Safety While Using Social Media

An abuser may use intimate images in order to maintain power and control over you. To do so, an abuser may share or threaten to share intimate images in an effort to control, intimidate, coerce, shame, or humiliate you. There may be certain legal options available that can protect you when an abuser shares or threatens to share your intimate images.

The National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Safety Net Project deals with the misuse of technology as a way an abuser could try to abuse you. Their handout has tips on what to do, such as contacting the website to request that the images be removed and how to document evidence of the images before asking that they are removed so that there is evidence that can potentially be used in court. Additionally, Facebook now has a feature aimed at stopping an abuser from sharing your image before it can be uploaded onto the Facebook platform. The project gives you the option of submitting the intimate images or videos that you are concerned the abuser will share without your permission. Then, a small, select group of specially-trained professionals at Facebook use the image to create a filtering system that allows the images to be deleted from the site. You can learn more about this project on the Safety Net Project’s Tech Safety website.