TOOLKIT
Online Safety
Addressing technology-facilitated gender based violence (TFGBV) requires a coordinated approach across multiple sectors.
It also requires complex safety planning and support for survivors to address the interplay of in-person and online harms, potentially by multiple perpetrators.
Cyberstalking - The unwanted pursuit, harassment, or contact of others using electronics.
Doxing - The public release of private and sensitive personal information about someone without their permission.
Image-based abuse
Non-consensual Intimate Image (NCII) Sharing - The sharing of someone’s sexual images without their permission. This is also known as ‘revenge porn.’
Sextortion - Blackmailing, demanding, or coercing someone to share sexual images and videos or threatening to release sexual images in exchange for something else.
Deepfake - Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) or photoshop to create images or videos that use the face, voice, or other recognizable features of another person from another (usually unrelated) video or image, that falsely appear real, often with sexual content including nude images.
Internet-based sex trafficking
Monitoring and surveillance - Using technology to control someone’s behavior by tracking their location, taking pictures, eavesdropping, and gaining access to their email, social media, or other online accounts. This can also include monitoring someone’s personal health information, like their period, by apps or other tech.
Online Sexual Harassment -
Sexting -
Sources:
Technology and Sexual Assault (2017). Safety Net Project Technology Safety. https://www.techsafety.org/technology-and-sa
Dunn, S. (2020). Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: An Overview. Supporting a Safer Internet Paper No 1, Waterloo: Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). https://www.cigionline.org/publications/technology-facilitated-gender-based-violence-overview/
The National Domestic Violence Hotline conducted a 2022 survey focused on Online Harassment and abuse. Of 960 respondents:
45% experienced cyberstalking
27% were threatened with the posting of intimate/sexual images without their permission
17% had intimate images posted without their permission
National Women's Law Center | Webinar hosted on December 5, 2024
This webinar addresses recent trends in how technology is being used to facilitate sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence; provides updates to legislation, policy, and federal case law that impact advocates’ ability to respond to and support survivors of technology-facilitated abuse; and highlights strategies and tips for how litigating attorneys can best advocate for clients who have experienced technology-facilitated abuse.
EndTAB | hosted on December 5, 2024
EndTAB hosted a discussion with masculinity expert Dr. Saed D. Hill about the state of healthy masculinity in the age of Artificial Intelligence - and the rapid challenges this technology presents in engaging men and boys today. This interactive session introduces the concept of AI-Manipulated Masculinity (AIMM), highlighting alarming trends targeting male audiences, including AI Girlfriends, Undressing Apps, AI Pimping, Virtual Influencers, Sexualized AI Therapists and more. They also examine actionable strategies to navigate this evolving landscape and adapt to these emerging challenges with clarity and confidence.
U.S. Department of Education’s National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) | November 8, 2023
In this webinar, subject matter experts talked about what cyberbullying and harassment can look like, the prevalence of the problem, and the impacts these experiences have on young people’s physical and mental health. It also discussed digital citizenship and digital wellness as intervention frameworks that may help stop students from engaging in online bullying and harassment and support those students who are experiencing it.
AEquitas | August 9, 2022
This presentation explores the various forms of image exploitation and the types of statutes under which this abuse can be prosecuted. The presenter provides strategies to introduce relevant digital evidence while ethically safeguarding victim privacy. Resources are also provided to support victims who would like to explore non-criminal avenues of achieving justice.
AEquitas is a nonprofit organization focused on developing, evaluating, and refining prosecution practices related to sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and human trafficking. AEquitas partners with Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC) on the project Just Tech: Investigation and Prosecution of Online Abuse. Just Tech will provide practical, accessible training and technical assistance on the investigation and prosecution of online abuse — including cyberstalking, doxing, online harassment, and image exploitation.
CCRI’s Mission is to combat online abuses that threaten civil rights and civil liberties. They run the CCRI Safety Center, which provides resources for victims and survivors of image-based sexual abuse, including a directory of attorneys and summaries of state laws on image-based abuse. They also operate the CCRI Image Abuse Helpline at 1-844-878-2274, which is available free of charge, 24/7.
Without my Consent is a project of CCRI that provides resources for survivors of image-based abuse, including their Something Can Be Done! Guide.
Safety Net is a project of NNEDV that focuses on the intersection of technology and abuse. They work to address how that abuse impacts the safety and privacy of survivors. Their team provides expert training and technical assistance, creates and disseminates resources, and influences conversations on technology abuse and safety globally. This includes the Technology Safety & Privacy: A Toolkit for Survivors.
WomensLaw.org provides information geared to supporting all victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking who are wanting to end an abusive relationship and often navigating the legal system on their own. They have specific resources on Abuse Using Technology.
EndTAB provides training and resources for schools, companies and organizations nationwide, empowering non-tech experts to navigate and address abuse in the digital age.
A project of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Love is Respect offers 24/7 information, support, and advocacy to young people between the ages of 13 and 26 who have questions or concerns about their romantic relationships. They also provide support to concerned friends and family members, teachers, counselors, and other service providers through the same free and confidential services via phone, text, and live chat. They also offer specific resources on online safety while dating.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides essential tools and support to help survivors of domestic violence so they can live their lives free of abuse. Contacts to The Hotline can expect highly-trained, expert advocates to offer free, confidential, and compassionate support, crisis intervention information, education, and referral services in over 200 languages, available 24/7. They also offer specific resources on internet safety.
Read more about the different ways abusive partners can weaponize technology, and learn how to improve digital privacy and security with these resources on:
NetSmartz is NCMEC's online safety education program. It provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children to be safer online with the goal of helping children to become more aware of potential online risks and empowering them to help prevent victimization by making safer choices on- and offline.
Topics include Digital Breakups, Digital Consent, Bystander Intervention, Examples of Technology Abuse, How to Talk to Young People About Digital Safety Planning, Location Sharing Uses and Misuses, Safer Dating Toolkit, Safety, Privacy, & Empowerment, and Social Media and Media Literacy
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
This guide provides an overview of digital teen dating violence, online abuse tactics, and the challenges in teen dating violence cases.
Savvy Cyber Kids
Training topics include:
Preschool through First Grade: Introducing Cyber Safety and The Savvy Cyber Kids Super Heroes
2nd through 4th Grade: Technology, Privacy & You
5th through 8th Grade: Think Before You Connect
9th through 12th Grade: Real vs. Virtual You
Parent: Digital Native or Digital Naïve?
Parent: Video Gaming & Esports
Educator: Teaching with Technology
Seniors: Surviving and Thriving in the Digital World
Topics include Social Media Usage, Grooming, Creating a Safe Space to Talk About Risky Online Encounters, Sextortion: Prevention & Response, and Sending Nudes: Trust, Consent, and Understanding the Risks
The CCRI Safety Center can support survivors of sexually explicit images (whether real or AI-generated) shared without consent. Their resources include a directory of attorneys and summaries of state laws on image-based abuse. They also operate the CCRI Image Abuse Helpline at 1-844-878-2274, which is available free of charge, 24/7.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides highly-trained, expert advocates to offer free, confidential, and compassionate support, crisis intervention information, education, and referral services in over 200 languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Phone: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or Text “START” to 88788
StopNCII is a free, confidential online tool operated by the Revenge Porn Helpline in the U.K. and is available to anyone who seeks to prevent their intimate images from being shared without their consent. It creates a digital hash of your image(s) that is scanned across participating platforms that will remove any images that match.
Right to Be is a nonprofit whose mission is to build safe, inclusive public spaces by transforming the culture that perpetuates harassment and discrimination.
The toolkit is the culmination of effort by leadership at the New York City Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA) and one of the founders of Seattle's Technology-Enabled Coercive Control Clinic (TECCC)
The CyberTipline is the place to report child sexual exploitation if you are, or were at the time, under 18 and may have been the victim of sexual exploitation or abuse. This is also the place to make a report if you have information about the possible sexual exploitation and/or abuse of a child
Take it Down is a free, anonymous service operated by NCMEC that can help remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos taken of individuals under 18. It creates a digital hash of your image(s) that is scanned across participating platforms that will remove any images that match.
Thorn’s text line is available by texting "Thorn" to 741741, where a trained Crisis Text Line counselor will respond.
Right to Be is a nonprofit whose mission is to build safe, inclusive public spaces by transforming the culture that perpetuates harassment and discrimination.
The toolkit is the culmination of effort by leadership at the New York City Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA) and one of the founders of Seattle's Technology-Enabled Coercive Control Clinic (TECCC)
VAWA primarily focuses on addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. The 2022 reauthorization of VAWA added a definition of “technological abuse” for the purposes of providing support to survivors who experience technological abuse.
The definition of Technological Abuse is found at 34 USC § 12291(a)(40):
The term "technological abuse" means an act or pattern of behavior that occurs within domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence or stalking and is intended to harm, threaten, intimidate, control, stalk, harass, impersonate, exploit, extort, or monitor, except as otherwise permitted by law, another person, that occurs using any form of technology, including but not limited to: internet enabled devices, online spaces and platforms, computers, mobile devices, cameras and imaging programs, apps, location tracking devices, or communication technologies, or any other emerging technologies.
Office for Access to Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice. (September 2024)
Read "Sharing of Intimate Images Without Consent: Know Your Rights"
Signed into law on May 19, 2025, this bill generally prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated, and requires certain online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice of their existence.
Laws by state as of July 2025 on Nonconsensual Distribution of Intimate Images (NDII), Sexually Explicit Digital Forgeries ("Deep fakes"), and Sextortion
Overview on Stalking and Cyberstalking (February 2020)
Identify Crimes by State (as of April 2023)
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The Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA) is a first-of-its-kind clinic to help survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) who are experiencing technology-facilitated abuse. CETA’s mission is to work with survivors and service providers to discover how technology is used to facilitate harm and help survivors stay safe. They provide resources, research, advocacy, and a tech clinic for survivors in New York City.
The Madison Tech Clinic is an initiative by faculty and students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to support survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual violence and other forms of technology-facilitated abuse in the community. We are a group of trained volunteers with technology expertise who conduct free, confidential consultations in partnership with local domestic abuse advocacy groups to help survivors who are facing stalking or harassment via technology.