Is it permissible or forbidden for an engaged couple to continue their relationship online – with the family's knowledge and considering it a period of engagement – under the pretext of getting to know each other before proceeding with the formal engagement?

A woman's conversation and correspondence with a non-mahram man, and establishing a relationship with him, are among the greatest means that lead to falling into the forbidden. Because it leads to the forbidden, it is forbidden. The family's knowledge of this relationship and their approval of it does not make it permissible. It is not permissible to persist in these conversations via the internet, in order to cut off the root of temptation. As for getting acquainted for marriage, it is permissible with legitimate controls, such as not being in seclusion (khalwa), the presence of one of the girl's mahrams, speaking with propriety, and a serious intention for marriage.