They didn't burn witches, they burned women

We might think witch trials belong to history but women today are still fighting the smoke, argues Kristina Wilfore, Director of Innovation and Global Projects at Reset Tech  and co-founder of #ShePersisted. In this post, she exposes how the oldest tricks of patriarchy have been upgraded for the digital age.

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Scroll any social feed and you’ll see it: the words we use about women are still laced with the old hex. “Witch.” “Crazy.” “Hysterical.” “Nasty.” The language might look like jokes or memes, but online—super-charged by algorithms and now amplified by AI—it’s the 21st-century version of a witch hunt. Only this time, instead of torches and stakes, we have tweets, deepfakes, and digital mobs.

For centuries, calling women witches was a tool of control. Between 1450 and 1750, tens of thousands of women were executed in Europe and its colonies under false accusations of witchcraft. When men were accused, it was usually because they were connected to women who’d already been targeted. The witch label made violence acceptable. It turned outspoken, independent, or simply inconvenient women into monsters that should be destroyed.

Even now, we sanitize that history. Salem, Massachusetts—where hysteria once took real lives—is a Halloween destination selling “witch-chic” merch to 100,000 tourists a weekend. But what gets erased in the souvenir shops is that these were not fairy-tale villains; they were women who spoke up, who refused to shrink, who scared men by existing outside their rules. Sound familiar?

The Old Fear, Upgraded for Broken Algorithms

At #ShePersisted, we track how language is weaponized against women, especially in politics. Online attacks are rarely about policy—they’re about character. “She’s a witch.” “She’s crazy.” “She’s corrupt” or “evil.” These words don’t just sting; they work to silence, delegitimize, and drive women out of public life by building audiences in opposition, often with a significant amount of inauthentic coordinated activity to fuel digital mobs.

The same fear that fueled witch trials—fear of women’s power, fear of change—still drives digital distortions and online abuse today. Pseudoscience once “proved” witches existed; now, conspiracy theories go viral faster than facts. From climate denial to anti-vaccine lies to attacks on women’s reproductive health, we’re watching the same distrust of truth replayed on infinite scroll.

And social media platforms profit from both sides of the spell.

“WitchTok” exploded during the pandemic, as millions searched for calm and community through crystals, candles, and spell jars. But the rise of digital witchcraft culture draws modern-day witch hunters—trolls, extremists, and grifters spreading hate under the guise of “protecting morality”. ” It’s almost funny, if it weren’t so dangerous—men who can’t handle women having boundaries, confidence, or success now blame feminism for their loneliness and call it a curse.

Just this past summer, mobs burned, stoned, or shot women labeled as witches.

Globally, this hate is still lethal. The International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks reports that more than 20,000 individuals have been accused of sorcery and killed over the past two decades. Just this past summer, mobs burned, stoned, or shot women labeled as witches. In 2025. In Papua New Guinea, a mother of six was tortured for two days before being shot and killed after being accused of using sorcery against her late husband. In Bihar, India, a mob of 50 burned five family members alive, including three women, after one was accused of witchcraft. In Ghana, a 70-year-old woman was lynched by neighbors who claimed she had cast spells, while in Burundi, six people were burned or stoned to death by a local militia.

Hillary Clinton was accused of “ritual sex magic.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was said to belong to a “coven casting spells on Trump.” Michigan’s Republican Party chair literally called women leaders “witches” he wanted to “burn at the stake.” In Europe, Dutch politician Sigrid Kaag was harassed so relentlessly—after being branded a “witch”—that she quit politics altogether.

“In my case, the abuse is about being ‘too masculine’, especially because of my voice. I’ve been called a witch, told to hang myself, threatened with rape, and told to shut up. I’ve faced character assassination… there’s a lot of character to assassinate,” said ADPD (Green Party of Malta) Chairperson Sandra Gauci at a conference in April 2025.

When misogyny meets machine learning, the cost will be women’s safety, credibility, and careers.

The spread of AI makes this even more dangerous. Deepfake image-based abuse, digital forgery, fake quotes, and fabricated videos can now “prove” whatever lie the internet wants to believe. When misogyny meets machine learning, the cost will be women’s safety, credibility, and careers.

Remember Their Names

Language matters. History matters. The platforms on which we live our lives, matter.In New York in the late 1960s, second-wave feminists didn’t run from the “witch” insult—they snatched the broom and flew with it. W.I.T.C.H., named the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, turned hexing into high art and protest into performance. They bewitched Wall Street, “cursed” consumerism, and mocked the patriarchy with pointy hats and sharper wit.

It was feminist theater that bit back—clever, camp, and impossible to algorithmically suppress. Try pulling that off today. In the age of AI deepfakes, troll farms, and content moderation that punishes women more than misogyny, reclaiming the narrative isn’t street theater anymore—it’s digital warfare. The witches of W.I.T.C.H. would have loved the chaos of the internet, but even they might’ve struggled against platforms designed to silence rather than spark rebellion.

The witch hunts maligning women who dare to hold power to account never really ended—they just moved online. And if we don’t challenge the words, the algorithms, and the systems that keep burning women in new ways, then we’ve learned nothing from Salem at all.

They never burned witches. They burned women. And we’re still fighting the smoke.

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This post is republished from Substack with the permission of the author.

Featured image generated by AI.