Half of all Aussies will be victims of tech abuse in their lifetimes

The eSafety Commission warns the average age Australians who first experience online abuse is getting younger.

One in two people will be victims of technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetimes

One in two people will be victims of technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetimes, new data shows, with the eSafety Commission warning the average age Australians first experience online abuse is getting younger.

Australia‘s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety also revealed in its report released today that one in four Australians would perpetrate abuse in their lifetimes and that gaining or maintaining control over the victim was the primary motivation of perpetrators.

The report heard from both victims and perpetrators, with one confirming the “sense of control” and needing to know where the victim was and what they were doing was the motivation behind the abuse.

“I needed to retain hold of that life, and that control of that person I guess, and I felt like if I could just track all that stuff, I could do that somehow,” another perpetrator said.

Approximately one in three victims reported that their most recent experience of victimisation occurred in a current or former intimate partner relationship, with methods of abuse varying from threatening messages to installing software on a victim’s phone or computer.

ANROWS chief executive Padma Raman said the range of harms experienced by victims and survivors of technology-facilitated abuse was long lasting.

“The impacts of technology-facilitated abuse can include physical, emotional and mental health harms, as well as feelings of fear, paranoia and hypervigilance,” she said.

“Victims and survivors explained that their experiences affected their ability to have personal and professional relationships with others, creating a sense of isolation.”

The research revealed police, internet platforms and other service providers such as telecommunication companies had inconsistent approaches to addressing abuse and could be highly ineffective in meeting the needs of victims.

“It is vitally important that essential services have a proactive, policy-driven approach to preventing and responding to technology-facilitated abuse. It is also crucial, for the purposes of risk assessment, that technology-facilitated abuse by a current or former partner is understood as a potential risk indicator for multiple forms of domestic and family violence,” Ms Raman said.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman was represented on the ANROWS Project Advisory Group and said technology facilitated abuse exasperated gender inequalities by discouraging women into positions of power where they can be more easily found and targeted online.

“Earlier research indicated that one in three professional Australia women have experienced some form of gendered online abuse and 25 per cent of women won’t take job opportunities if they’re required to be in the media,” she told The Australian.

Ms Inman Grant confirmed the average age of victims when they first experienced abuse was about 14, but children as young as eight had presented as victims.

“There’s been an 80 per cent increase in youth based cyber bullying in the last six month of this year,” she said.

“We’ve seen and heard from the front lines creative ways people misuse technology.”

Ms Inman Grant said apps like Uber eats were used by perpetrators to find out where their partner was, while others put threatening messages on banking transactions as a way to contact the victim.

However, banks including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia had recently installed Artificial Intelligence to identify and prevent such messages from being sent.

Ms Inman Grant said she was concerned the number of women coming forward to report abuse to the eSafety Commission was only 2 per cent.

“Help seeking was low generally victim survivors,” she said.

If you or someone you know needs help call 1800 RESPECT

If you or someone you know is experiencing cyber abuse contact esafety.gov.au