Almost one in three women aged between 16 and 59 will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, according to the Office for National Statistics’ November 2019 report. But, the charity Solace Women’s Aid has revealed that it takes women on average six and a half years to leave an abusive relationship.

Often this is because sometimes the abuse women experience goes unseen, a reality that the charity is highlighting in a new campaign created by STACK in partnership with Twitter, ‘#HiddenAbuse’. The campaign makes use of Twitter’s Hidden Replies feature to tell a chilling story of why social media often doesn’t convey the full story, just a rose-tinted part of it.

Controlling and coercive behaviour, belittling people and making them feel afraid as well as cutting people off from friends and family are all forms of domestic abuse. But this emotional violence is often not seen by those around the victim and so is easy to be ignored; it can even sometimes be normalised.

To demonstrate this unseen abuse, Solace Women’s Aid ‘#HiddenAbuse’ campaign sees the charity tweet a picture of a seemingly happy couple with the phrase, ‘this is what domestic abuse looks like’. Users then have to click on the hidden replies to reveal the true story. What follows is a video showing the hate-filled, furious messages from man to woman, exposing the abusive, controlling relationship behind the selfie.

The ‘#HiddenAbuse’ campaign was originally presented by STACK at Twitter UK’s Powered By Tweets competition, that champions using innovation on Twitter for good causes.

The campaign beautifully illustrates the fact that just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. The depths of the destruction hidden abuse can cause are no less great than those inflicted more visibly and will often have far-reaching and traumatic effects. This incredibly powerful campaign makes use of a feature on the social media platform than many might not be familiar with to raise awareness about a form of abuse that similarly people might be less aware of.

The Twitter thread then directs people straight to Solace Women’s Aid website and their helpline for anyone who needs it. It’s an example of a social media platform using their tools for good, partnering with the charity to increase awareness and encourage people to remember that there is always a story behind the selfie.