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Nothing is too small to report if it makes you feel uncomfortable. Find out more about reporting technology-enabled abuse here. |
Technology-enabled abuse is when someone uses technology to bully, harass, stalk, intimidate, or gain control over others. Preventing this kind of abuse starts with the ability to recognize it. Click on one of the following links to learn more about identifying specific types of technology-enabled abuse.
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Bullying and harassment
This form of abuse can include threatening messages or insulting or humiliating posts, including unflattering photos or videos shared without your consent.
If someone sends you too many, unwanted, threatening, or repeated messages, even after you ask them to stop, it is harassment. If you block someone and they contact you through another person or through another form of technology, it is harassment.
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Coercion is the act of sharing (or threatening to share) images or information online or forcing a victim to share this information with the aim to cause the victim distress, to gain financially, or to sexually abuse and/or exploit someone. Someone pressuring you to send explicit photos/videos or sexual and compromising messages is an abusive and controlling act.
Online exploitation is when one person manipulates another person to get them to do something such as sending photos/videos of themselves or perform acts over a webcam.
Intimidation includes acts related to power and control. Abusers may steal or demand your account passwords, tell you who you can and can’t friend/follow on social media, or look through the photos, videos, texts, and calls on your phone. Behaviors like these are coercion, exploitation, or intimidation, and they are all technology-enabled abuse.
Monitoring and stalking
How does it work?
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If you find a tracking device or are alerted of a personal tracker, first ensure your safety. Then, disable the tracker by removing the battery. If you cannot disable the device, leave it behind or store it somewhere until you can give it to law enforcement. Otherwise, the stalker will continue to know your location. Take screenshots of any security alerts you received. Take photos of where the tracker was discovered and keep the disabled device as evidence.
Trolling
This is when someone posts or comments as a way to deliberately “bait” a response and provoke an argument or emotional reaction. Examples of trolling include commenting on Instagram posts or subtweeting to incite a response or to get others to join in on the attack. This behavior is harassment even if the comment is not made on your post and even if you are not tagged in the post or tweet.
Catfishing and doxing
Catfishing is when someone creates a fake online identity using another person’s images and information. This may be done to lure someone into a false relationship or to victimize an unknowing target (e.g., using someone’s images from Instagram to make a dating profile).
Doxing is when someone reveals identifying information about someone online such as their real name, home address, workplace, phone, financial information, or image without the person’s permission with the intent to isolate and embarrass a victim.
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