Skip to main content

People use social networks to cheat; ‘Shocking!’ says no one

couple taking picture
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Secret chats and rendezvous scheduling are commonly being done behind significant others’ backs via  social networks. And as people become more and more tech savvy, cheaters are finding craftier ways of using these platforms for illicit acts of infidelity. 

Of 2,400 American adults that have admitted to cheating at least one this past year, a recent study found that one-third of these adults have created a social media or email account that their partner didn’t know existed. And the most common social network that would be used to create a fake social media profile, with nearly 67 percent of cheaters having one, is Facebook.

Recommended Videos

The study suggests that the main reason cheaters are creating these secret accounts is to list their relationship statuses as “single.” Why not just hide your relationship status? Well, as many as 80 percent of people who tend to publish intimate details about their relationships will note their relationship status, according to a study by Abine, Inc. the creators of DoNotTrackMe. In other cases they’ll send naughty photos through social media.

The Internet leaves a “paper” trail for most online communications, which apparently has many couples convinced that they should be sharing their online activities with each other. As many as one-third of Facebook users, who participated in the Abine study, said they’ve shared their usernames and passwords with their significant other. And 40 percent of people have confessed to looking at their partner’s private messages and emails.

You might think that it’s crazy to share your private social media and email accounts with the person you’re dating or married to – but a core value in a relationship is trust. And on the Internet, trust means that if your significant other refuses to give you their username and password, they might have something to hide.

Obviously, if you’re sharing your Facebook profile info with your partner you can pretty easily dupe them into thinking that you’re loyal – while in reality, you’ve created a secondary online profile that you’re keeping a secret from him or her. 

But if you keep your online adulterous antics up and get caught, just know that the ensuing break-up is also going to play out over the social network. Facebook has become the official facilitator of a couple’s relationship status: 63 percent of social network users will de-friend or block exes, and half of the study’s participants admitted that they will de-tag photos shared with their exes.

Francis Bea
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Francis got his first taste of the tech industry in a failed attempt at a startup during his time as a student at the…
Topics
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more