Cyberbulling victory? FB cracks down on Revenge Porn.

Cyberbullying revenge porn constitutes a different kind of revenge than that discussed here last week. Villains who use so-called ‘revenge porn’ aren’t as  heinous as revenge serial killers. But they do cause great harm, esp to women.

Cyberbullying revenge porn.

“Cyberbulling revenge porn” refers to the sharing of sexually explicit images on the internet, without the consent of the people depicted in the pictures, in order to extort or humiliate them. It is often practiced by former partners of the victim.

Now victims of cyberbullying revenge porn have some help in preventing the spread of their images. Last Wednesday, Facebook (FB) stepped up to the plate. According to David Ingram’s Reuter’s report , FB is adding tools to make it easier for users to report revenge porn and to automatically prevent the images from being shared again.

Celebs and Cyberbullying revenge porn.

Celebrities are not immune from cyberbullying. In fact they may be more at risk, esp regarding revenge porn, than the average person. British actress and model, Misha Barton has had enough trouble of late. Being a victim of revenge porn hasn’t helped. She has been brave enough to speak out about it.

In fact, her lawyer has reminded those who repost or share the “revenge” images of her that such behavior is illegal in California.

Anti-revenge porn details.

“Facebook has been sued in the United States and elsewhere by people who said it should have done more to prevent the practice. The company in 2015 made clear that images “shared in revenge” were forbidden, and users have long had the ability to report posts as violating the terms of service.

Beginning on Wednesday, users of the world’s largest social network should see an option to report a picture as inappropriate specifically because it is a “nude photo of me,” Facebook said in a statement.

The company also said it was launching an automated process to prevent the repeat sharing of banned images. Photo-matching software will keep the pictures off the core Facebook network as well as off its Instagram and Messenger services, it said.

Users who share “revenge porn” may see their accounts disabled, the company said.

Facing criticism, the company last year met representatives from more than 150 women’s safety organizations and decided it needed to do more, Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a phone interview.

A specially trained group of Facebook employees will provide human review of each reported image, Davis said.”

Laws and cyberbullying revenge porn.

As other journalists have reported,  “The process to prevent repeat sharing requires Facebook to retain the banned pictures in a database, although the images are blurred and only a small number of employees have access to the database. 

Prosecutors and lawmakers have also sought ways to prevent the spread of “revenge porn,” seeking additional penalties for a practice that they said has ruined careers and families and even led to suicide.”

California outlaws ‘revenge porn.’  It’s one of the first states to have this kind of legislation. It forbids the distribution of private, explicit photos of revenge porn by websites that specialize in publishing such pictures.

 

 

 

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