SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR) — February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and as technology gets smarter with artificial intelligence (AI), the threat of tech-facilitated abuse increases, especially with teens.

“Tech-facilitated abuse includes cyberflashing, hacking and controlling accounts, texting/messaging harassing messages, sharing images without consent, and deepfakes and virtual impersonation,” said Kelli Owens, executive director of New York’s Office for Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV).

According to a 2022 report on Teen Dating Violence issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, up to 19% of teens experience sexual or physical dating violence, 48% face stalking or harassment, and as many as 65% report psychological abuse.

According to Owens, 1 in 3 teens report experiencing some abuse in their romantic relationship. That includes 1 in 5 female students and 1 in 10 male students who have been victims of physical and/or sexual dating violence in the last 12 months.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey also showed female students experience higher rates of both physical and sexual dating violence than male students. The survey also showed that 6% of heterosexual students, 17% of LGBTQ students and 14% of students unsure of their sexuality reported physical dating violence in the last 12 months.

A huge contributor to teen dating violence is tech-facilitated abuse which is something being seen across all ages, said Owens.

That’s why OPDV launched a new Tech Safety Guidebook to raise awareness and offer critical tips to help keep individuals safe.

In the NYS FY 2025 Budget proposal, Gov. Kathy Hochul also supported a new OPDV campaign to raise awareness about sextortion, which is often tied to personal relationships.

According to OPDV, common examples of tech-facilitated abuse include:

• Cyberflashing: Airdropping unwanted sexual images or videos to devices.
• Hacking into, manipulating or blocking access to accounts that harmfully impact financial status, credit, limit control of assisted devices for communication and mobility or immigration status.
• Repeatedly sending harassing, threatening or sexually harassing content through messaging apps, co-parenting apps and others.
• Forwarding or posting faked images, videos, social media messages or voicemail to cause harm to relationships, for blackmail or to impact the outcome of custody, divorce or other court-related matters.
• Impersonation to compromise job security or to expose the victim’s gender identity, expression or sexual orientation.

Other types of online harassment seen in teen dating violence are cyberstalking and “revenge porn” or nonconsensually sharing intimate images.

How to stop tech-facilitated abuse?

If you are a parent of a teen or a teen who is looking for strategies for enhancing safety when using technology, OPDV recommends the following.

1. Limit Publicly Shared Information

Reduce the amount of publicly shared information, such as favorite restaurants and your current place of work. This limits opportunities for harassment.

2. Mute or Block Accounts

Blocking an individual or deleting accounts may lead to further escalation. Instead, consider muting the abuser. Muting an account will not notify the individual. Muting will block their content from your feed and notifications without notifying them.

3. Two-Step Verification

Enabling two-step verification adds an extra layer of protection to online accounts. Two-step verification requires that login attempts need access to text messaging or email for identity validation.

4. Guard Personal Information

It is important to know how much of your information is available on the internet. Use a search browser to search your first and last name and see what information is revealed.

5. Validate Connections

When receiving an email, avoid opening links from email addresses that you don’t know or believe may be suspicious.

6. Use Camera Covers

Use camera covers on phones and laptops to block the lens when not in use. This may protect you from an unauthorized individual viewing you through the camera.

7. Software Maintenance

Install anti-virus software on all devices to scan for malware. Keep devices and
apps up to date by installing the latest versions of anti-virus software.

For more information on teen dating violence and tech-facilitated abuse, visit OPDV’s website and Tech Safety Guidebook.