The Rise of Digital Coercive Control

"The world in which domestic abuse is perpetrated is changing, but domestic abuse persists at worrying levels. Perpetrators of domestic abuse now routinely use technology and social media to control and instil fear in those they victimise." All-Party Parliamentary Group on Domestic Violence

Safeguarding professionals have long been trained to recognise physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial exploitation and coercive control, but digital coercise control is a rapidly growing threat that risks being overlooked.

As our healthcare, social care and charitable customers continue to embrace digital transformation, it is important that we recognise that the same technologies designed to improve access and independence can also be exploited by perpetrators to control and intimidate our service users.

Research from the University of Liverpool describes this phenomenon as Digitally Enabled Coercive Control (DECC) and highlights how technology has fundamentally changed the way coercive control is perpetrated. It allows abuse to continue regardless of physical distance and creating a sense of constant surveillance and omnipresence.

What is digital coercive control?

Digital coercive control occurs when technology is used as part of a pattern of controlling, coercive, threatening or abusive behaviour.

Examples might include:

• Monitoring a person's location through mobile phones, smart watches or vehicle tracking systems.

• Demanding access to their passwords, email accounts or social media.

• Using smart home devices, cameras or speakers to monitor them.

• Intercepting healthcare communications and appointment reminders.

• Controlling access to online banking or benefits.

• Tracking online activity and communications.

• Using children's devices or accounts to monitor a parent.

• Excessive messaging and demands for immediate responses.

• Threatening to share private information or images online.

  
  

Research commissioned by Refuge found that 72% of service users had experienced technology-facilitated abuse, including monitoring, coercive control, harassment, financial control and location tracking.

Technology is rarely the abuse itself, it is another tool through which coercive control is exercised.

Why should organisations be concerned?

Many safeguarding frameworks were developed before digital technologies became embedded in everyday life.

Today, perpetrators no longer need to be physically present to maintain control.

Victim/survivors may be:

• Monitored 24 hours a day.

• Unable to communicate privately.

• Prevented from accessing support services.

• Discouraged from disclosing abuse.

• Tracked even after leaving an abusive environment.

  
  

Researchers have highlighted how technology can remove any sense of respite, leaving victims feeling exhausted from being permanently observed and controlled.

For organisations providing healthcare, social care or support services, this creates safeguarding risks that traditional approaches may fail to identify.

How might this appear in primary care?

In GP practices, digital coercive control often presents as an administrative issue rather than an abuse disclosure.

Examples may include:

Communication control

• Appointment reminders sent to a partner's phone.

• The patient never receiving communications directly.

• Requests for all correspondence to go through another person.

• Frequent changes to contact details initiated by someone else.

  
  

NHS App and online access concerns

• A partner managing the patient's NHS App account.

• The patient being unable to access their own records.

• The patient appearing unaware of information held within their record.

• Pressure to grant proxy access.

  
  

Appointment management

• A partner booking and managing all appointments.

• The patient never attending alone.

• Sensitive appointments repeatedly cancelled.

  
  

Test results and health information

• Requests for results to be disclosed to third parties.

• Persistent attempts by others to obtain confidential information.

• Patients appearing unaware of referrals, investigations or treatment plans.

  
  

The safeguarding question is not whether family members assist with healthcare management as this happens often, legitimately. The concern arises when the patient no longer appears to have genuine control over decisions about their own healthcare information.

Risks within mental health services

Mental health services may encounter some of the most complex presentations of digital coercive control.

Individuals experiencing abuse may describe:

• Feeling constantly watched.

• Anxiety linked to phone notifications.

• Fear of using devices.

• Concerns that others know information they should not know.

• Hypervigilance and sleep disturbance.

  
  

In some cases, genuine experiences of digital monitoring could be mistakenly interpreted solely as paranoia or delusional beliefs. Clinicians will be working to balance appropriate clinical assessment with curiosity about whether technology-facilitated abuse could be contributing to the individual's experiences.

Questions such as:

"Do you feel safe using your phone and online accounts?"

or

"Has anyone ever used technology to monitor or control you?"

may open important safeguarding conversations.

Risks within care homes and supported living services

Digital coercive control is not limited to intimate partner relationships.

Older adults and individuals with care needs may experience abuse from relatives, carers or others with access to their technology.

Examples include:

• Family members controlling mobile phones or tablets.

• Restricting access to communication platforms.

• Monitoring calls and messages.

• Managing online banking without transparency.

• Accessing healthcare portals without clear consent.

• Using smart devices to observe behaviour remotely.

• Deploying in residence cameras

  
  

As care settings increasingly adopt digital care records, communication portals and remote monitoring technologies, staff should consider whether residents genuinely understand and consent to who can access their information.

Digital safeguarding should become part of routine discussions about capacity, consent and information sharing.

Moving safeguarding into the digital age

Technology-facilitated abuse is a current safeguarding challenge affecting healthcare, social care, education and voluntary sector organisations today.

As digital services continue to expand, safeguarding frameworks must evolve alongside them and we need to be prepared to recognise it when it appears disguised as an appointment booking issue, a proxy access request, a contact detail change, or a seemingly routine administrative interaction.

A list of practical steps to take within your organisation can be found in our Customer Portal, myKafico.

Emma Cooper, Human Rights Nerd

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