Published on: May 6, 2026
An ATIXA Tip of the Week by;Mikiba Morehead, Ed.D., M.A.
Last week, we explored how to leverage technology in the investigative process. This week, we examine another reality that civil rights coordinators and investigators are increasingly encountering.
Complaints now regularly involve online behavior, digital harassment, manipulated images, anonymous platforms, and rapidly spreading online incidents that can affect an entire school or campus community. Many civil rights practitioners are already seeing this shift in their casework.
This evolution is the focus of ATIXA’s second new workshop, the Addressing Technology-Facilitated Sexual Misconduct Workshop.
How Technology Is Changing Misconduct
Misconduct that once occurred in person is increasingly happening on digital platforms. Practitioners are seeing more complaints involving online harassment, impersonation, manipulated images, anonymous posts, and coordinated digital campaigns. Social media, messaging apps, and anonymous forums can all be used in harmful ways that affect students and employees.
In many cases, this behavior feels new because the technology is new. Harassment, stalking, exploitation, intimidation, and sexual misconduct can now occur through digital channels or a hybrid of online and in-person interactions. However, a closer look at the underlying conduct reveals familiar patterns.
Practitioners must first understand the speed and scale of harm that technology can facilitate. A single post, image, or message can be shared instantly across networks. What might have once been a private incident can now spread rapidly, affecting dozens or even hundreds of people in a short time. This scale changes how practitioners must think about misconduct, hostile environments, and institutional response.
Online and Offline Conduct Have Merged
Practitioners often ask where the line falls between online conduct and its real-world impact. That line is becoming increasingly blurred. Digital platforms are deeply embedded in daily life. Messages and posts follow individuals into classrooms, workplaces, and homes, affecting their sense of safety in physical environments. Anonymity can reduce accountability, emboldening individuals to say or do things they would not do face-to-face. Group dynamics can also amplify harmful behavior through comments and reposts.
New types of technology-facilitated misconduct emerge frequently. Practitioners may regularly encounter AI-generated or manipulated content, such as deepfakes, altered photographs, and cloned voices. Practitioners are also seeing more complex forms of digital targeting, such as doxxing, impersonation, and coordinated harassment campaigns.
These dynamics raise complex questions for practitioners. How does anonymity affect responsibility? What is the role of someone who initiates a harmful post and the individuals or groups who amplify it? When digital conduct spreads quickly, how should the impact be assessed? While these questions don’t have simple answers, they are now part of modern investigative practice, and in school settings, have the potential to broaden the jurisdictional reach of Title IX-based complaints.
Building Confidence in a Changing Landscape
Even experienced civil rights compliance practitioners can feel uncertain about how to approach technology-facilitated misconduct. That’s why ATIXA developed the Addressing Technology-Facilitated Sexual Misconduct Workshop.
This half-day training helps practitioners to understand how emerging technologies influence misconduct in higher education and K-12 environments. Participants explore real-world scenarios and emerging patterns, learning how anonymity, digital targeting, and rapidly spreading online content can shape investigative decisions and institutional responses.
The workshop is designed to help practitioners move past initial uncertainty and focus on behavior, applying the analytical frameworks they already know from Title IX. Participants will leave better equipped to recognize technology-facilitated misconduct, understand its potential impact on their communities, and respond thoughtfully when these issues arise. What investigators need now is context, awareness, and practical guidance on how technology is shaping both evidence and behavior.
Together, ATIXA’s two new workshops reflect a simple reality: technology is deeply embedded in our everyday lives and relationships. Learning to leverage these tools for and within civil rights investigations is essential.
Enroll in ATIXA’s Leveraging Technology in Civil Rights Investigations Workshop and Addressing Technology-Facilitated Sexual Misconduct Workshop, which will be offered in person at ATIXA’s Summer Symposium in Denver, Colorado.