SOCIAL MEDIA & REVENGE PORN

Social Media Offences

Offences contrary to the Malicious Communications Act 1988 include (under section 1) the sending of electronic communications which are indecent, grossly offensive, threatening or false, provided there is an intention to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient.

Under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 it is an offence to send or cause to be sent through a ‘public electronic communications network’ a message that is ‘grossly offensive’ or of an ‘indecent, obscene or menacing character’.

And where there are multiple incidents, or the incident forms part of a course of conduct directed towards an individual, the offence of harassment will be considered under Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Revenge Porn

Revenge Porn refers to the sharing of explicit or sexual, images or videos, without the consent of the person in the image and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress. The images are sometimes accompanied by personal information about the subject, including their full name, address and links to their social media profiles.

The offence applies both online and offline and to images which are shared electronically or in a more traditional way so includes the uploading of images on the internet, sharing by text and e-mail, or showing someone a physical or electronic image.

Sexual material not only covers images that show the genitals but also anything that a reasonable person would consider to be sexual, so this could be a picture of someone who is engaged in sexual behaviour or posing in a sexually provocative way.

This is an issue among people of all ages from children as young as 11 to much older adults. However, the most commonly incidents have come from those who are in their teens to adults in their mid-twenties.