What Is Revenge Porn? An Attorney Explains

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Anyone uncertain about what course of action is appropriate for them or their situation should consult legal professionals familiar with their circumstances and the applicable state’s laws.

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Sending nudes is a common way people choose to sexually engage with their partners, but deciding to share explicit images or videos comes with some major risk. Once you ping those pics to another person’s device, you stop being in control of who will see them.

Revenge porn, also known as image-based abuse, is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of someone without their consent. In some cases, the victim may have sent the nudes or sexually suggestive photos or videos themselves, but in other cases, the victim may not know such sensitive material exists in the first place.

If you’re a fan of the hit Bravo reality TV series “Vanderpump Rules,” you may already be familiar with the term revenge porn. On Feb. 29, former cast member Rachel “Raquel” Leviss sued her former costar (and former friend) Ariana Madix for “revenge porn” and a series of other allegations. (Tom Sandoval, another cast member and ex-boyfriend of both Madix and Leviss, was also named in the lawsuit.) In the lawsuit obtained by PS, Leviss’s lawyer claims Leviss was the victim of “predatory and dishonest behavior of an older man who recorded sexually explicit videos of her without her knowledge or consent” and “a scorned woman” who distributed the content.

More recently, however, conversation is stirring online after a private video of “Love Island” contestant Kendall Washington was allegedly leaked shortly after the season six finale. On Instagram Stories, Washington’s sister Taylor commented on the leak by addressing the show directly. “I really hope ya’ll have serious mental health resources in place for him so he doesn’t come back from the high of this experience to seeing he’s been unfairly exposed on top of general reality TV backlash,” she wrote.

Below, attorney Ruth Carter breaks down what you need to know about revenge porn — and what you can do if you become a victim of the crime.

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Ruth Carter is an Arizona-based attorney for Geek Law Firm who specializes in internet law and intellectual property.

What Is Revenge Porn (and Is It a Crime)?

According to Carter, revenge porn is what happens when “somebody takes an adult photo or movie of somebody and either shares it with others or posts it online without the person’s consent.” And yes, this act is usually considered a crime.

However, the legal definition of revenge porn varies from state to state. In California, for example (the state where Leviss filed her lawsuit), the piece of legislation referred to as the “revenge porn law” is California Penal Code 647(J)(4), and it gets pretty detailed in the parameters it sets for what constitutes revenge porn. A perpetrator of revenge porn, the bill says, is “anyone who intentionally distributes images of the intimate body parts of an identifiable person, or images that depict them engaging in sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or masturbation, in circumstances where they agree or understand the images will remain private, then they distribute the images knowing they will cause serious emotional distress.”

In New York, however, the term “revenge porn” is not used explicitly in any legislation. The law that is used to protect victims of revenge porn is in Section 52-B of the New York State Senate Legislation, which is headlined “Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image.” Similar to the California law, it provides some examples of what constitutes an “intimate image.” Additionally, the legislation makes clear that the explicit material “was taken when [the subject] had a reasonable expectation that the image would remain private” and then was “was disseminated or published, or threatened to be disseminated or published, without the consent of such person.”

As Carter said, the key to these definitions is that the victim believed the images would be private, and then someone shared them without their consent.

Is Madix Liable for Revenge Porn?

That’s for a court to decide. Ultimately, a judge or jury (if the case makes it to trial) will need to determine if the facts of the case — or, the truth of what happened — matches California’s definition of revenge porn.

According to Leviss’s lawsuit, Madix found intimate videos of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone (which Sandoval allegedly recorded without Leviss’s consent). After discovering the videos, the lawsuit alleges, Madix “distributed and disseminated them to others, including but not limited to Madix herself, Leviss, and other individuals whose identities are not currently known to Leviss.”

If the facts Leviss alleges are found to be true, Madix could be found liable for revenge porn because, while she didn’t record or save the videos herself, she did (again, Levis alleges) send them to herself from Sandoval’s phone and potentially shared them with others.

“[The court decision] would probably come down to what type of damages the court has awarded in similar situations in the past,” says Carter. “They might use that as a guideline to determine what is the amount of harm in this specific situation.”

What to Do If You’re a Victim of Revenge Porn

If you find out you’re the victim of revenge porn, take a second to breathe and assess the situation. If someone is threatening you with revenge porn, meaning there are no photos or videos of you posted yet, but someone might intend to do so (especially if you don’t pay them or do something else they are requesting), it’s best to go to the police; blackmail and sextortion are crimes that can be prosecuted.

Once the intimate content is published or shared, you have two options: you can pursue criminal charges or you can file a civil lawsuit. Before deciding whether you’d like to go the criminal or civil route, Carter suggests doing some homework. Ask yourself the following questions: What is the situation? Where are these images or videos? Are they being distributed person to person or are they being posted online? Do I know who did it? Is it worth suing this person? Do I have the means to sue this person?

Depending on how you answer those questions, you may find clarity regarding which path to take. If you don’t, you can hire a lawyer for an hour to talk about your options. Just note that some lawyers, like Carter, may charge upwards of $300 an hour.

If you decide to pursue criminal charges by filing a police report, it doesn’t cost you a thing since police officers are paid by tax dollars. Plus, the police may be able to help you more than a lawyer could if you’re not sure who posted or shared the content. “The police have resources available to them in a criminal case that are often not available to people in a civil situation when you’re suing somebody,” Carter says.

However, if the person who shared or posted the content lives in a different country, the police may decide not to go after them. Also, once you turn the case over to the police, the jurisdiction is in their hands, says Carter. This means that the state justice department will have the power to decide the precise charge and potentially negotiate a plea deal with the defendant.

If you decide to pursue the civil route, you can start by consulting with a lawyer. If all you want is the photo or video to be taken down, that could be achieved by having your lawyer send a demand letter. If you want to seek damages, though, which in some cases can be monetary value or assets awarded to the plaintiff to make up for the harm or distress caused, the process is much more involved.

To file a lawsuit, you would start by serving the other person with the help of a lawyer. Then, once they’ve filed their answer or response, the case moves forward with discovery and deposition, Carter says. This process can take anywhere from months to years, which means you could be spending anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a month for legal fees, Carter says.

When asked which route would be better for a victim of a revenge porn case, Carter says that it depends on the case itself. However, because most people don’t have $100,000 to spend on a lawsuit, the criminal route may be better. Plus, “most people aren’t worth suing because they don’t have the money, even if you won, to pay you,” Carter adds. “If the person that you sued does not have assets, you may never collect.”

How to Send Nudes Safely

Unfortunately, there is no completely risk-free way to share intimate content. “Once you send a message that has a photo or a video, you have no control over who’s going to see it and where it’s going to end up,” Carter says. While they would love to offer advice like “choose good people to share nudes with,” they say that people may surprise you and “angry people do not think clearly.”

With that said, if you want to continue sending nudes, Carter suggests being “very careful and thoughtful” about what you send and who you send it to. You could try sending a sexily posed bikini or lingerie photo instead of one where you’re unclothed. That way, you can still sexually engage with your partner without being completely naked. You could also crop your face out of the photo to preserve your anonymity should the image ever go public.

Another option is to use a third-party app that offers extra privacy. Downloading an app like Disckreet requires both partners to enter their passcode or use a touch/face ID to access the chat history and photos. It will also alert you if your partner takes a screenshot.

Ultimately, just know that you are accepting a risk any time you share a nude photo. “It could end up being shared around to all your friends, your mother, boss, or on some kind of adult website. And if that’s not a risk you’re willing to take, then that’s content that maybe you shouldn’t be creating,” Carter says.