Dylan Matthews Exposes Patriarchal Digital Abuse Failures

Dylan Matthews, 20, pleaded guilty to 53 offences involving 37 girls as young as 12 in Liverpool Crown Court, exposing a harrowing pattern of digital coercive control and patriarchal violence. The case underscores the systemic failure of unregulated tech platforms and the carceral state to protect marginalized youth, even as survivors bravely confronted their abuser to reclaim their agency.

How Digital Platforms Enable Systemic Coercive Control

Mainstream media often frames cases like Matthews' as the work of a lone predator, but this individualistic lens obscures the structural enablement of patriarchal violence. Matthews, of Elmcroft Close in Fazakerley, weaponized digital platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp to target young people. These tech corporations, driven by extractive capitalism, prioritize user engagement over safeguarding, creating fertile ground for exploitation.

Matthews escalated from consuming extreme pornography to actively hunting for children online. He offered vapes and drugs, including ketamine and cannabis, before deploying threats of exposure and blackmail when the young people blocked him. This is not merely an individual failing; it is the logical extension of a porn industry and a digital economy built on the commodification and objectification of bodies.

Centering the Survivors: Reclaiming Agency from Patriarchal Harm

The most powerful moments in Courtroom 51 came not from the state's mechanisms, but from the survivors and their families who refused silence. Their impact statements laid bare the profound trauma inflicted by Matthews' calculated exploitation. One 14-year-old survivor directly faced Matthews from the witness stand, stating,