Your smart fridge‘s internal camera was supposed to help you track groceries. Instead, it’s become a tool for abusers to monitor what victims eat, when they eat it, and how often they open the door. That innocent Bluetooth speaker? It’s now an always-on listening device that logs conversations and tracks movement patterns around your home.
Welcome to the dark side of the Internet of Things, where seemingly helpful gadgets become instruments of coercive control. According to Australian research, technology features in 99.3% of gender-based violence cases—transforming domestic abuse from something that happened behind closed doors into 24/7 digital surveillance.
The Gadgets Turned Weapons
From smart glasses recording without consent to fridges tracking food consumption, everyday devices enable unprecedented monitoring capabilities.
Smart refrigerators equipped with AI food-tracking can reveal eating patterns, calorie intake, and presence at home—perfect for abusers demanding control over a partner’s diet or whereabouts. Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators, with their internal kitchen gadgets and smartphone app integration, make remote monitoring effortless.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses add another layer of covert surveillance. Their discrete cameras capture photos and videos that can be used for threats or shared without consent. Bluetooth speakers with always-listening microphones become bugs planted throughout the home.
The scope is staggering. In England and Wales alone, over 400 violent offenses against women daily now have a digital component—representing a 200% increase in eight years, according to charity Refuge.
Tech Giants Face Pressure
Government officials demand stronger protections for women online as companies struggle to address systematic abuse through connected devices.
UK Tech Secretary Liz Kendall has warned companies including Meta, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok to go “above and beyond” protecting women online or face further action. The message is clear: the days of treating abuse as a user behavior problem are over.
UNFPA defines technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) as “an act of violence… committed, assisted, aggravated and amplified in part or fully by the use of information and communication technologies or digital media against a person on the basis of gender.”
Design for Safety, Not Surveillance
Experts demand that companies build abuse scenarios into product design from day one, rather than treating safety as an afterthought.
The solution isn’t removing features—it’s building transparent controls, easy account separation, and privacy-by-default settings. This means:
- Visible recording indicators that can’t be disabled
- Clear admin versus user roles for shared devices
- Straightforward ways for survivors to reset smart home ecosystems after leaving abusive relationships
The alternative is a future where your morning coffee routine becomes evidence in a stalking case. The smart home revolution promised convenience. Instead, it delivered a surveillance state that fits in your kitchen. Time for the tech industry to smart up.
