Over the past 18 months, barriers to new relationships have pushed connections further online, and the quest for intimacy has gone digital.

During three strict lockdowns, doxing, revenge porn and slut shaming have shut up as more and more people shared intimidate images online or signed up to an online dating platform.

In fact, one in four UK internet users have shared nude or explicit material with people they have never even met.

Moreover, a third of Brits have shared nude or explicit material with people they are dating or chatting to online, according to new research from Kaspersky, shared with City A.M. this afternoon.

This practice has understandably increased due to the pandemic, paving the way to the rising threat of doxing – the public exposure of personal data including intimate videos or images for malicious purposes. 

The public sharing of personal data can have serious implications such as paranoia and depression for victims, and can also lead to stalking and online abuse.

‘Oversharing’ on dating apps, social media and across messaging services can increase your risk of being doxed, and threats can quickly move from the online world to the physical one.

To understand the level of explicit material sharing, Kaspersky surveyed 2,000 UK consumers, and their responses raised some eyebrows.

While a third of respondents across age groups admit to sharing explicit material of themselves with people they are dating or chatting to, Gen Zers are more likely to share nude/explicit material of themselves, with half (50 per cent) having done so.

As a ‘tech-savvy’ generation, Gen Z may be too comfortable in the digital world to understand how quickly online actions can have real-world consequences.

In comparison, only 5 per cent of Baby Boomers have received explicit material from people they’re dating or chatting to; interestingly, it is more common among the Silent Generation (born before 1946), 11 per cent of whom have received explicit material.