Abusers are increasingly using wearable technology like smartwatches and rings to stalk, harass, and coerce survivors.

New data released by Refuge shows a 62 per cent rise in referrals to its technology-facilitated abuse and economic empowerment team in 2025 to 829, up from 512 in 2024.

The charity said the rise is being driven by the “increasing accessibility” and “reach” of wearable technology that allows abusers to “stalk, surveil and control survivors” even from a distance.

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Meta’s new wearable glasses have spawned a whole new seam of ‘content’: men covertly videoing their attempts to pick up women and uploading the footage to social media.

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'The footage was then posted to TikTok, where it received 1.3m views. "I just wanted to cry," Dilara, 21, told the BBC.

The man who filmed her, it turned out, had posted dozens of secretly filmed videos to TikTok, giving men tips on how to approach women.

Dilara also found out that her phone number was visible in the video. She then faced a wave of messages and calls.'

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'Some users, mostly men, began to demand to see bruising on the bodies of the women, and for blood to be added to the images. Requests to show women tied up and gagged were instantly granted.

By Thursday, the chatbot was being asked to add bullet holes to the face of Renee Nicole Good, the woman killed by an ICE agent in the US on Wednesday. Grok readily obliged, posting graphic, bloodied altered images of the victim on X within seconds.'

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A spokesperson for the regulator said it was also investigating concerns Grok has been producing "undressed images" of people.

The BBC has seen several examples on the social media platform X of people asking the chatbot to alter real images to make women appear in bikinis without their consent, as well as putting them in sexual situations.

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AI ‘nudification’ apps are to be banned following an IWF campaign as new data reveals nearly one in five reports of nude or sexual imagery of young people involves some form of faked or digitally altered imagery.

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