In November 2017, the billboard topping Australian singer Sia tweeted a nude photo of herself to 3.3 million followers. “Someone is apparently trying to sell naked photos of me to my fans,” she wrote. “Save your money, here it is for free.”

While Sia’s response was novel, the crime she was a victim of is all too common. Non-consensual pornography or image-based sexual abuse – colloquially known as “revenge porn” – is the distribution of sexually graphic images of individuals without their consent, and with the intent to do harm.

It happens more often than you might think, and not just to celebrities. Anyone who’s ever taken an intimate photo of themselves and sent or stored it digitally, is at risk.

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) in the United States offers support to thousands of victims of non-consensual pornography every year, and advocates for legal, social and technological change to prevent online abuse. Their crisis helpline offers immediate counseling to victims over the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The organization was co-founded in 2013 by Holly Jacobs, a victim of revenge porn who went public with her story and helped spark a national conversation.

The previous year, on the lookout for allies, Jacobs had come across a journal article called “Unwilling Avatars” by Dr. Mary Anne Franks, a professor of law at the the University of Miami School of Law. Jacobs reached out to Franks.

Dr. Mary Anne Franks
Dr. Mary Anne Franks. Photo by Gary D. James (used with permission)


“Holly had emailed me about her experience of being a victim of ‘revenge porn’ and asked if we could set up a meeting. She came to my office with a huge binder documenting every site where her photos were posted, every harassing message she’d been sent and every belittling response she’d received from site owners she’d asked to remove her material,” says Franks.

“I was moved by Holly’s bravery and strength of will, and felt that if she could sacrifice so much to this cause, I could at least try to help as much as I could.”

Jacobs’ vision was to create the kind of organization she wished had existed for her. Franks became a co-founder along with Jacobs and three others, and today serves as the CCRI’s Legislative & Tech Policy Director. She has worked with lawmakers in over two dozen U.S. states on legislation to protect intimate privacy and combat online harassment and abuse, and has met with technology companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to discuss their policies to prevent online harassment and non-consensual pornography.

The crisis helpline is a major component of their work. “Victims can suffer from depression and anxiety, sometimes severe enough to spark suicidal thoughts,” says Franks. “Many tell us that the helpline got them through their darkest periods and helped them remember that they were not to blame, and that they were not alone.”

Despite the tragic consequences for affected individuals and their families, the primarily female victims of revenge porn have long been met with blame and derision, and the path to meaningful legislation to protect victims is often challenging.

In the United States, important free speech protections shield Web publishers from liability for user-generated content. In this context, legislating narrowly is difficult and requiring online service providers to remove content from the Internet can lead to other problems.

Franks says there has finally been a shift in attitudes about revenge porn, however, and points to laws in Illinois, Israel and a government funded information portal for victims in Australia.

Further reading:

Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
Holly Jacobs: Victims of revenge porn deserve real protection, The Guardian, 2013
U.S. States with revenge porn laws