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March 31, 2025

Digital Intimacy: Establishing Safe Sexting Practices

Sexting, a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”, is a common activity among adults in a relationship. In fact, a report from the Kinsey Institute revealed that sixty seven percent of their respondents had sexted before⁽¹⁾. Even though sexting is extremely prevalent in the modern era, it still comes with many dangers.

Crimes like sextortion and revenge porn originated from a simple sext that in many circumstances, was consensual. It’s impossible to know the outcome of a sexting exchange even in relationships that feel safe. However, there are ways to minimize the danger of sexting, starting with an understanding of sexting risks.

Understanding the Risks of Sexting

Sexting is a way to build digital intimacy or strengthen a relationship. Unfortunately, many people take advantage of this vulnerable moment to do something malicious. In some cases, the criminal’s malicious intentions to distribute their partner’s images are not immediate and come after an unhappy break up. The problem is that there are many people who are not aware of the sexting risks and the possible ramifications it can have on their digital footprint.

Sharing any photo or video is simple. With a click of a button, you can post an image online or in a group chat to tens of others. Content spreads like wildfire over the internet and when you send an explicit image, you are trusting the person to keep it to themselves.

Non-Consensual Intimate Image (NCII) abuse, however, has become a modern-day crisis because many people don’t keep those images to themselves. The term NCII abuse or image-based sexual abuse is when a user shares an explicit image or video of someone else without their consent. The stress, fear, and frustration of the situation can be overwhelming.

The Permanence of Digital Content

Once you put something on the internet, it’s difficult to have it removed. There is no telling how many people saw and saved the content to their own device. Similarly, it’s difficult to unsend a message. This is why responsible sexting is important. Not only is the person you send a sext to important but so is your device’s security. The person that may get access to your explicit images or videos may be a hacker who lives in another country.

Risks of Identity Theft and Exploitation

One of the biggest risks that come with sexting is the possibility of being blackmailed. Sextortion is a type of online blackmail in which a criminal threatens to send someone’s private images or videos to the victim’s family and friends unless they pay a certain amount.

However, not every sextortionist will demand money. Some of them demand sexual favors or content. This is called sexploitation. Other perpetrators can demand private information like credit card information or government ID numbers. Going through sextortion is one of the worst experiences a person can have and unfortunately, many sextortion cases start with sexting.

Psychological and Emotional Impact

The sexting risks are also psychological. You can build digital intimacy with someone for months but once the trust is broken, you can’t get it back. The betrayal can cause emotional distress and trauma. Those intense emotions can linger and lead to depression. When it comes to digital intimacy, you need to be completely sure you can trust the other person with your privacy.

Open and direct communication is what safe sexting is all about. Everyone involved needs to have consented to sexting and be completely comfortable with receiving or sending messages. Discussing consent and boundaries are one of the most important steps in sexting responsibly. There are three main conversations you should have with your significant other to lower any sexting risks.

The Importance of Clear and Explicit Consent. Consent for sexting is needed before the exchange begins. Both parties need to make it clear that this is something that they want throughout the entire process. Consent withdrawal is also possible at any time. Continue to check in on your partner to make sure they are still okay with the sexting.

Setting Personal Boundaries. After agreeing to sext, the next step is to discuss boundaries. What are you comfortable doing? Should you both delete your images or videos immediately afterward? These are some of the questions that you are recommended to ask when safe sexting.

Communicating Expectations and Links. You need to discuss everything with your partner when it comes to sexting including what you are expecting from it. If you have any limitations, that needs to be discussed as well.

Implementing Security Measures

Some sexting risks don’t involve the other person you are texting at all. Criminals can access your private content by hacking into your accounts or devices. Using malware or brute force hacking techniques, the criminal will gain access to your information and look for anything compromising to use against you. However, there are ways to protect your sexting messages from cyber-attacks.

Using Secure Messaging Apps

If you want to sext on a secure platform, encrypted messaging applications are a great option to consider. Encrypted messaging platforms protect your texts from being viewed or intercepted by any third-party. Here are a few secure messaging platforms with end-to-end encryption.

Signal. An open-source messaging app that prioritizes privacy protection and retains almost no metadata⁽²⁾.

WhatsApp. The most widely used messaging app in multiple countries, WhatsApp uses Signal’s encryption protocol for all its messages⁽³⁾. However, the WhatsApp source code is closed which means it is unclear what information they are taking. However, it’s clear that WhatsApp still collects some information about its users⁽⁴⁾.

Telegram. Based out of Dubai, the standard chats do not have any encryption. End-to-end encryption is only active in their “Secret Chats”.

Protecting Personal Information

Many cases of revenge porn end with a bitter lover releasing the damaging NCII content of their former partner. However, this content gets less incriminating if there is no way to identify who is in the images. This is why it’s important to keep any identifying features out of your explicit images and videos. If no one can identify the person in the images or videos, the sexting risk decreases tremendously. Make sure to check for any identifying features on your body or in the background.

Managing Storage and Deletion

How you store your explicit images is extremely important when it comes to safe sexting. Multiple celebrities have had their phones hacked and private images leaked. It’s best to use a self-destructing message feature to keep any sexting content off your phone for long periods of time. Make sure your phone also doesn’t automatically save images captured or received to the cloud.

Device Security

Your login credentials are the cornerstone of a device’s security. Having a strong password prevents criminals from being able to crack into your account with brute force. As an extra layer of security, enable two-factor authentication. This sign-in feature requires two methods of identification before anyone can enter your account. Keeping your devices up to date also prevents hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in outdated firmware.

Ethical Considerations and Responsible Sexting

Safe sexting is not only to protect you, it’s also to protect everyone involved. There are many ethical considerations you should make when engaging in sexting to make sure everyone feels comfortable. Here are a few things to consider for responsible sexting.

Respecting Privacy and Confidentiality. You would want someone to maintain your privacy and you should give others that same right. Sharing someone’s sexual content without their consent can cause emotional trauma, breaks trust, and is a criminal offense in many places.

Avoiding Peer Pressure and Coercion. There is no scenario in which peer pressure or coercion should ever be used in sexting. Remember, you need to trust the person you are sharing these intimate photos with for the rest of your life.

Understanding Legal Implications

Responsible sexting between two consenting adults is legal. However, sexting without clear consent can be prosecuted under a statute like harassment or stalking. Texas in particular passed a law in 2023 specifically against unsolicited sexting that can qualify as a misdemeanor⁽⁵⁾. Non-consensual intimate image sharing is also illegal depending on where you are. In the U.S., forty-nine states have passed laws against NCII abuse or revenge porn⁽⁶⁾. Countries like France, Germany, England, and Japan have also passed laws against NCII abuse⁽⁷⁾.

Resources and Support

When it comes to safe sexting, there is no way to make the act completely safe. There will always be a risk in sending a revealing image to someone, even if you trust them completely. Minimizing the possible damage that an explicit image or video can do to you is the best way to lower the sexting risks.

Educational Resources for Young Adults and Parents

Digital Intimacy can only be expected nowadays and using the best practices for responsible sexting increases your privacy protection. Here are a few more resources that you can use to learn more about safe sexting and decreasing your digital footprint.

The Federal Trade Commission’s Educational Resources: The FTC has a library of educational articles about online security and privacy protection⁽⁸⁾.

Savvy Cyber Kids: A non-profit that strives to provide parents and minors with the awareness of cyber safety, ethics, and online blackmail⁽⁹⁾.

FBI Safe Online Surfing (SOS) Program: An FBI program made for students in third to eighth grade that educates them on cyber safety⁽¹⁰⁾.

Family Online Safety Institute: A free educational program for parents and adults to learn about how to teach online safety and privacy protection to minors⁽¹¹⁾.

It is stressful to be a victim of image-based sexual abuse. However, you should take action as soon as possible to protect yourself from a damaged reputation or more crimes like online blackmail. Always report image-based sexual abuse to your local law enforcement. They can give you the possible next steps you can take in response and may be able to help you remove the content from the internet. There are also free resources, hotlines, and support organizations that can help you with the next steps.

Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI): A non-profit that helps victims of image-based sexual abuse with their hotline, finding an attorney, and educational articles⁽¹²⁾.

Without My Consent: An organization that is fighting online invasions of privacy⁽¹³⁾.

National Sexual Assault Hotline: A free 24/7 service for victims of sexual assault and image-based sexual abuse⁽¹⁴⁾.

StopNCII.org: A service in partnership with social media platforms that allows victims to remove their explicit images off all participating platforms⁽¹⁵⁾.

Digital Forensics Corp: Promoting Digital Safety

Online safety is an everyday concern in the digital age and at Digital Forensics Corp., it’s our number one priority. We are a one stop shop when it comes to cybersecurity, providing services like data recovery and malware detection. Our experts are especially trained in cases of non-consensual image sharing and online blackmail.

Using our forensic experts and digital investigators, we are able to track the digital footprint of the criminals responsible for sharing your images and eventually their identity. We can also help monitor and remove the explicit content from the internet quickly before there is any huge exposure. Contact Digital Forensics Corp. today if you need help securing your privacy.

Sources:

Digital Forensics Corp

Published March 31, 2025

Internet Sextortion

Digital Intimacy: Establishing Safe Sexting Practices