The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Nevada have filed a lawsuit against the operators of the revenge porn site MyEx.com under both the FTC Act and Nevada’s anti-revenge porn law. This is only the second time the FTC has acted against revenge porn sites. The Complaint is a major statement from the FTC that revenge porn causes serious harm to its victims and that sites that knowing exploit revenge porn and its victims will be prosecuted.
As the Complaint explains
Thirty-eight states, including Nevada, and the District of Columbia, have passed laws making the dissemination of intimate images illegal in certain circumstances. Additionally, a federal statute criminalizes the use of an interactive computer service to intentionally harass or intimidate a person through “engag[ing] in a course of conduct that causes, attempts to cause, or would be reasonably expected to cause substantial emotional distress to a person.” 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)
The Complaint alleges MyEx.com:
specifically encouraged and solicited the posting of intimate images and personal information without the pictured individual’s consent. The website makes clear that the purpose of such posting is to harm the pictured individual. Defendants have advertised the website as “MyEx GET REVENGE!” and “Naked Pics of Your Ex.” TheMyEx.com site has invited individuals to “Add Your Ex,” “Submit Pics and Stories of YourEx,” “Search for your Ex,” or “Find Someone You Know.” In past versions of the site, when one clicked on “Make a Post” the site stated, “Add Someone. Feel Good.” The site also described itself as a site where one could “Get the dirt before you get hurt or submit your ex gf and bf and get revenge!” TheMyEx.com website name itself indicates that the site is aimed at ex-partners.
The Complaint asserts that the operators were not only aware that the publication of these images was not consented to by the subjects but also knew that “certain of the images on the site could not be consented to, as they were images of individuals under the age of consent.”
The site profited from the publication of the pictures by charging $499 to $2,800 to remove a victim’s mages and information from the site. From January 2014 to April 2016 the website earned more than $4 million from removal fees and advertising.
In charging the site under the FTC Act, the Complaint cited the harm to consumers from such sites.
Consumers suffer substantial harm from having their intimate images and personal information posted on the site. This posting of intimate images and personal information is an unwarranted invasion of privacy into consumers’ lives. In addition, it causes injury in the form of depression, anxiety, loss of reputation, and safety fears. Many consumers ultimately incur medical expenses, such as the cost of medications or professional mental health care, as a result of Defendants’ practices. Consumers also incur legal expenses, frequently seeking out legal assistance to have their intimate images and personal information removed from the site, and to get relief against harassers. Consumers also lose time working with local police and authorities concerning these postings of their intimate images and personal information.
In its press release, Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen stressed
MyEx.com uses reprehensible tactics to profit off of the intimate details of individuals’ private lives. People who were featured on this site suffered real harm, including the loss of money they paid to remove intimate images and personal information, loss of jobs, and being subject to threats and harassment.
The Complaint seeks an injunction barring further violations and disgorgement of “rescission or reformation of contracts, restitution, the refund of monies paid, and the disgorgement of ill-gotten monies.”
The defendants will claim that they have immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act since they are not the publisher of the images, but courts have refused to grant immunity to sites that actively participated in creating the offending content.
Cyber Report 