Technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA) is increasingly prevalent and has devastating impacts, yet policy, criminal justice and practice responses have historically left victim-survivors vulnerable to escalating abuse. The authors conducted a reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) of interviews with ten UK-based victim-survivors and professionals to explore their perspectives on barriers and unmet support needs.

RTA findings are summarised through four themes, highlighting the harms and injustices linked to experiences of victimisation, reporting and help seeking. These included navigating hostile terrains, seeking support in the face of inconsistent and ‘patchwork’ provision, and negotiating restrictive and hierarchical understandings of gender-based violence (GBV). The final theme explores the role of TFVA and GBV-specific voluntary sector services (VSO); this was a double-edged theme, indicating that while victim-survivors value VSOs as sites of specialist knowledge and support, professionals delivering these services identified challenges such as the need to keep pace with rapid technological and legislative change and a mounting demand for specialist TFVA support.

Participants’ perspectives are analysed through the lens of empirical and theoretical literature on TFVA and GBV, focusing on the continuum of GBV, and the epistemic, procedural and distributive injustices linked to ‘thin’ conceptions of violence and harm. The analysis is further contextualised in relation to recent legislative and regulatory changes (Online Safety Act 2023).

The authors conclude further research is merited to investigate victim-survivors’ experiences of TFVA reporting and help seeking in relation to the construct of violence work, as part of the nuanced, ‘thick’ conception of harms advanced by TFVA and GBV theorists.