It is a severe crime to post sexually explicit photos of someone without their consent.  Perpetrators of revenge porn face civil liability plus jail time and fines.  Thus, victims can sue perpetrators for money and other damages for their pain and suffering.  If the victim is a minor, the perpetrator may face further charges for child pornography.

What is revenge porn?

Revenge porn means posting sexually explicit images of someone online for retribution and without their permission.  The perpetrator is often a current or former partner trying to control, shame, or blackmail the victim.  However, revenge porn is not limited to romantic partners.  Anyone who gains access to private images could share them publicly for various reasons. 

There are a few ways perpetrators may obtain sensitive images.  They may convince the victim to share the photos privately, create them secretly without the victim’s knowledge, or steal them from their phone or other device.

How can revenge porn affect victims?

Revenge porn can cause long-term psychological issues in victims, such as emotional distress, guilt, depression, paranoia, anger, anxiety, isolation, and suicidal thoughts.  Revenge porn can harm a person’s reputation, cause them to lose their job, and damage their relationships with family and friends.

Revenge porn posts may include the victim’s name, social media links, address, workplace, and phone number.  As such, revenge porn often leads to sexual harassment and stalking of the victim online and in real life.  Revenge porn victims may suffer threats of rape and violence online and in the real world.

Revenge porn can cause victims to change schools, move cities, eliminate their online presence, withdraw from friends and family, fear for their safety, avoid looking for a job, change their name, and experience severe emotional distress.

Removing the images from websites does not mean they are gone for good.  Victims never know how many people saved or screenshotted the photos or whether they will resurface.  In this sense, victims continue to suffer long after the images are removed from websites.

Furthermore, people may blame the victim for the crime, saying it’s the victim’s fault for creating or sharing the photos in the first place.  Such judgment and criticism only add to the victim’s feelings of shame, loneliness, and confusion.  Victims of abuse are never at fault for the actions of their abuser.

What can you do about revenge porn?

It is essential to document everything.  You want to remove the images from websites as quickly as possible to avoid them going viral.  Still, you must first log each photo or video to take legal action.  Screenshots of the posts, comments, and conversations are crucial in criminal and civil suits.  Take screenshots of:

• The posts and any comments on the posts
• Any threats or harassment you receive
• Search results that lead to your images
• Websites and webpages where the photos or videos appear
• Any text messages, emails, or conversations related to the images
• The date, time, and URL of the images
• The sender’s name and contact information (if available)

Should you hire a lawyer?

The next best step for most people is to contact an experienced sexual harassment lawyer. 

A good lawyer will help you remove the content from the internet, hold the perpetrators liable, obtain damages for your suffering, and obtain restraining orders to prevent you from suffering further.  The legal framework of revenge porn cases is complex, and an attorney can guide you.  Revenge porn cases are already stressful enough for victims.  Thus, it is best to hire a proven sexual harassment lawyer to manage the legal aspects of your case so you can focus on your recovery.

Who is liable for revenge porn?

Perpetrators of revenge porn are always liable for the harm they cause.  Perpetrators often lack the funds to compensate revenge porn victims.   However, this is not always the case.  Sometimes perpetrators have income or assets that courts can seize to pay a settlement or verdict. 

Other parties may be liable depending on where the images were distributed.  For example, the victim’s company may be liable if the photos were shared at work.  The school may be liable if the images were shared at the victim’s school.

Sometimes, you can sue the websites that published or hosted the material.  There are statutory protections for websites hosting user-generated content.  However, such protections do not apply to websites that solicit criminal content or promote sex trafficking.  Nor do they protect websites from intellectual property claims.  Thus, there are avenues for claims against the websites that hosted the images.

However, you can expect websites and web hosts to fight tooth and nail to avoid liability for your revenge porn case.  As such, obtaining settlements and judgments from such websites typically requires the knowledge and skill of an experienced lawyer.

How much is a revenge porn case worth?

Victims of revenge porn may be eligible to recover for:

• Pain and suffering
• Psychological care
• Lost wages
• Reduced earning capacity
• Reduced quality of life
• Other damages

Posting revenge porn is abhorrent behavior, which may warrant punitive damages to punish the defendant and deter such behavior from happening again.  Victims may also be able to recover their attorney’s fees and litigation costs under California’s revenge porn statute.

How can you protect yourself from revenge porn?

There’s always risk involved in taking explicit photos or videos.  If someone asks you, you can always say no.  Don’t do it if it makes you uncomfortable, pressured, or unsafe.  If you decide to share intimate photos, remember that they can more easily be used as revenge porn if they show your face, tattoos, or other distinct features.  Well-lit backgrounds may also identify the person and place in the photo.

Links

California Legislative Information – California Penal Code § 647 (J)(4)

Communications Decency Act –  47 U.S. Code § 230 California Legislative Information – California Civil Code § 1708.85