SmartUp Fact Sheet: Smart Surveillance and Gender-based Violence

Smart technologies—including smartphones, smart home devices, wearables, and AI-based applications—are increasingly used as tools of surveillance, control, and abuse in the context of gender-based violence (GBV). Rather than reducing harm, these technologies often intensify existing forms of violence and enable new, more subtle forms of abuse that are harder to detect. Risks include tracking through wearables, manipulation of smart home systems, use of stalkerware and spyware, unauthorized control over online accounts, and identity theft. These threats disproportionately affect women, LGBTQI+ individuals, and others who challenge traditional gender norms. Perpetrators are most often men known to the victim—such as partners, ex-partners, family members, or acquaintances. Addressing tech-enabled GBV requires urgent attention from developers, policymakers, and civil society to ensure that digital innovation does not come at the cost of personal safety and human rights.