Revenge porn

Revenge porn is considered to be photo and/or video material of a sexual nature placed on the Internet without the permission of the person photographed or filmed. The question of whether the photo or video itself was made with permission does not matter.

Revenge porn case with a fake Facebook account

The best-known example of revenge porno is the film of the girl Chantal, 21 at the time, placed on Facebook via a fake account in 2015. In interlocutory proceedings initiated by AMS Advocaten against Facebook, the decision was felled that Facebook has the obligation to provide the victim with all information available about the fake Facebook account. By not doing so, Facebook acted carelessly and unlawfully.

Requesting fake account information

A claim for the issuance of data in this type of case is almost always made by means of interim relief measures. A penalty amount can be linked to such a conviction. The claim can also be lodged that, if the particular intermediary (such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube) continues to claim that it no longer has the data, that an investigator must perform independent research.

Google ordered to provide data

Other court cases have also been conducted about providing information. In 2008, Google was ordered to provide personal information about a Gmail user. This case established that the user of Google’s Web services acted unlawfully against the plaintiffs. Therefore, the plaintiffs’ interests in being able to establish the identity of the user of Google’s Gmail were greater than those of Google in protecting the privacy of its users.

Instagram ordered to provide data

In the Netherlands, Instagram was also ordered to release the personal information of an account holder. In that (2016) case, the court also found that the interests of the plaintiff superseded the right to privacy of the person who had placed the particular photos on Instagram.