Viktorya Vilk (she/her/hers) is the director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America. She created and runs the organization’s Online Abuse Defense Program, which equips writers and journalists with self-defense training and resources, partners with media organizations and publishers to strengthen protections for writers and journalists, and conducts research and advocacy on platform accountability. Her work has been featured on PBS Newshour, The New York Times, Slate, and Harvard Business Review, and she regularly speaks at conferences on digital safety and press freedom, including for the Online News Association, RightsCon, International Journalism Festival, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and MozFest, among others.
Prior to joining PEN America, she worked on organizational strategy and development at the Art & Global Health Center Africa, a Malawian NGO that advocates for health and human rights through the arts. She has organized exhibitions, developed public programs, managed a collection re-installation project, and created innovative digital platforms showcasing art and architecture at the Jewish Museum, the Clark Art Institute, The Frick Collection, and the Courtauld Gallery. She completed graduate degrees, as a Marshall Scholar, at the University of London, and has over a decade of experience working in nonprofits to expand access to the arts and defend creative and press freedom.
Recent Publications
As authoritarianism and Big Tech attack the press, democracy suffers
Miami Herald, May 2025
Not Helpless, Not Silenced: What to Do if You Are Experiencing or Witnessing Online Abuse
Ms. Magazine, January 2024
Rape Threats, Misogynist Slurs, Sexual Harassment and Doxing: How Online Abuse Is Used to Intimidate, Discredit and Silence
Ms. Magazine, January 2024
“Shouting Into the Void with Viktorya Vilk and Kat Lo”
ConnectSafely, October 2023
“How do you report online abuse? And what happens when you do?”
WBUR, July 2023
