What is revenge porn?
STATES are enforcing a law against revenge porn that holds people accountable for posting nude photos and videos of their exes without consent.
The law enforcements come as a series of revenge porn charges have been brought to court.
What is revenge porn?
Victims have been targeted by revenge porn from their exes, and occasionally third parties, who seek to destroy their reputation or post it as a form of harassment.
The posting of revenge porn includes photos and videos of the victim that are posted online without the individual's consent, with one in 25 Americans affected, according to a 2016 article by .
Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 are primarily victims of revenge porn, and a study conducted in 2016 found that approximately 10million people, or two percent of the population, had reported they were victims.
Revenge porn is not protected under the First Amendment of free speech which does not protect the distribution of private facts, defamation, and child pornography.
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Under section 230 Communications Decency Act of 1996, websites are considered third parties and not legally liable for content posted online.
However, in 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr to Congress requesting websites to be required to take action and hold the third parties accountable for not removing nonconsensual content.
In his letter, Barr wrote that technological changes since 1996 have advanced, and the law should be amended to reflect this.
He stated that section 230 "shields 'any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers being obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.'"
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Barr provided reforms to section 230, changing "'otherwise objectionable' with more specific language including 'promoting terrorism or violent extremism, promoting self-harm' and 'unlawful.'"
The bill to amend section 230 was brought to the Senate in October 2021 and as of May 2022, it is still being reviewed.
Which states have banned revenge porn?
As recently as 2016, only three states in the US had laws against revenge porn.
Since then, it has expanded to 46 states and the District of Columbia, with varying degrees of punishment for the offenders.
The four states that have no laws criminalizing revenge porn include Massachusetts, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Wyoming.
Of the states that have an anti-revenge porn law, seventeen classify it as a misdemeanor, eleven will convict the individual of a felony, and in others, the punishment depends on the specifics of the crime.
If the individual who posted revenge porn is convicted of a felony charge, they can receive four to five years in jail, and in some states such as Alabama, they can receive up to ten years if charged with a Class C felony.
The person convicted can also receive a fine as low as $1k for a misdemeanor and upwards of $100k for a felony in Georgia whose law says "If posted on a website that advertises, a felony punishable by one-five years, up to $100,000 fine, but subsequent charges are a felony punishable by two-five years, up to $100,000 fine," according to .
What can you do if you're a victim of revenge porn?
If you are a victim of revenge porn, your first step should be to search your state's laws for nonconsensual pornography, cyberbullying, cyber harassment, and stalking.
The next step should be to call the police and contact a civil lawyer who can take you through the next phase of filing charges.
Your civil lawyer can file a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator to cease the distribution of the photos or videos online.
They can also file against the individual for the invasion of privacy, violation of the state's applicable law, fraud, and/or defamation.
You can claim damages that include but are not limited to medical and therapy costs, emotional distress, and the loss of income.
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An unnamed victim from Texas told that they are experiencing the legal process firsthand, and provided advice to others who are the victims of revenge porn.
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They said, “You do have a voice, and you do have an opportunity, and please reach out to your local agencies.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat at .
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