What Domestic Violence Looks Like Now

Domestic violence isn't new. Sadly, it's more prevalent than most of us want to believe and it's taking on new forms, powered by the misuse of technology. The same fear, manipulation, and isolation that were once "in person" are now virtual. The tools abusers use, the ways they exert control, and the challenges survivors face in seeking help are changing fast.

Not that long ago, someone trying to escape an abusive relationship might have worried about being followed, having their phone calls monitored, or being cut off financially. Today, that same person might be tracked through their phone, monitored through shared accounts, or threatened with intimate images that never actually existed, thanks to artificial intelligence. Technology has given us some incredible superpowers. Unfortunately, not everyone uses them for good.

Over the years, our team has had the privilege of working alongside advocates, investigators, prosecutors, and other frontline professionals who see the realities of abuse firsthand. One thing we've learned is that the absence of a visible injury doesn't mean the absence of harm. And as technology changes how abuse happens, we have an obligation to understand those changes, equip the people responding to them, and make sure survivors aren't left fighting yesterday's battles with today's threats.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. For the people who answer these calls, every month is. So this year, instead of a ribbon and a reminder, here's what that story looks like in numbers, and what it means for the people they'll eventually reach out to.

This story isn't rare

In February 2026, the CDC released new national data on intimate partner violence. More than 1 in 3 women (34.0%) and more than 1 in 6 men (17.0%) in the U.S. have experienced physical violence, sexual violence or stalking by a partner at some point in their lives.

Picture a room of 30 women. About 10 of them have a version of this story. Picture a room of 30 men. About 5 do.

In the past year alone, that was about 6.7 million women and 2.8 million men.

No bruise doesn't mean no abuse

Remember: nothing has turned physical in months. If they called for help tonight, there might be nothing visible to point to.

That's coercive control: monitoring, isolating, threatening, cutting someone off from money and from the people who might help. The same CDC data found that 27.2% of women have experienced it from a partner, more than 1 in 4. For men, it's 19.5%, nearly 1 in 5.

It rarely leaves a mark, and as many of you know firsthand, that can make it hard to document and even harder to prove.

The phone in their hand

The phone that shares their location isn't a plot device. It's one of the most common tools in abuse today.

Among women who have experienced stalking, whether by a partner or anyone else, about 1 in 3 (36.3%) were monitored through social media, about 1 in 5 (20.1%) through stalkerware or other tracking software, and about 1 in 6 (15.6%) through GPS. Among men who have been stalked, the rates were even higher: 43.8% through social media, 25.0% through monitoring software and 29.3% through GPS.

The photo they never took is newer. AI didn't invent image-based abuse, but it removed the barrier. Someone no longer needs a real intimate image to threaten a person with one. A regular photo and an app can produce a convincing fake in seconds, and the fear and shame that follow are just as real.

The law is starting to catch up. The TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in May 2025, made it a federal crime to share nonconsensual intimate images, including AI-generated ones. Since May 2026, covered platforms have been required to take them down within 48 hours of a victim's request. For the person we've been referencing, that's a real path to getting the image removed. For the people helping them, it's one more option worth knowing.

When they reach out

Say they make the call tonight. They won't be the only one.

On a single day in September 2025, 1,707 domestic violence programs across the country counted everyone they helped. They served 84,146 survivors and answered 23,747 hotline contacts, about 16 every minute. More than 53,000 of those survivors, adults and children, had a safe place to stay that night.

People are reaching out more than ever. It took the National Domestic Violence Hotline more than seven years to answer its first million contacts. Its most recent million, from March 2024 to this July, took just over two. Every one of those is someone who decided to reach out and found someone there to answer.

Where the proof lives

If their case moves forward, much of the evidence won't come from a crime scene. It will come from a phone: the location sharing, the account records, the messages, that photo.

You know this better than anyone: that evidence travels. The survivor saves it. An advocate helps document it. An officer collects it. An investigator reviews it, and months later a prosecutor builds a case around it. Every handoff is a chance for something to get lost, questioned, or seen by someone it shouldn't be. For the survivor, that isn't a paperwork problem. It can be the difference between being believed and not.

At Guardify, we work alongside the advocates, investigators and prosecutors who carry that evidence from the first report to the courtroom. Our part is helping make sure what they collect stays secure, intact and in the right hands. The work, and the courage, belong to them and to the survivors they serve.

For the people who keep answering

The person in this story is a composite. The people who will help them are not.

Awareness month ends on October 31. The calls won't. To everyone who picks up the phone, sits with a survivor, knocks on the door, or builds the case: thank you. You see the parts of this that never make it into a statistic. You don't need a ribbon from us. You have our respect and our support, in October and every month after.