Victims of Revenge Porn - Our lawyers can help you

Rift - Lawyers in Paris

#CyberBullying #Fisha #RevengePorn

Published on February 24, 2022 at 9:00 am

By Jérôme Navy, lawyer at the Paris Bar

On February 11, 2020, Benjamin Griveaux, announced with a bang his withdrawal from the race for Mayor of Paris. The origin of this political bomb? The deputy of Paris had just been a victim of revenge porn, a practice consisting of disseminating on the Internet images of a sexual nature of an individual, without the consent of the latter.

If the practice is not new, the apprehension of this phenomenon by the French law was late. Revenge porn has only been criminally punishable since the entry into force of Law No. 2016-1321 of October 7, 2016 for a Digital Republic. However, this criminalization is not yet known to all. Victims are often unaware of their rights and do not realize that they actually have the possibility of taking legal action, possibly with the assistance of a lawyer.

Of course, public figures are not the only victims of revenge porn. It is a massive phenomenon that affects in particular a young and fragile public.

Many of the victims of revenge porn are young women, sometimes even minors. The phenomenon also affects teenagers. Acts of revenge porn are sometimes followed by slut shaming, that is to say a campaign of harassment carried out mainly via social networks, but which then have very concrete repercussions in the real life of the victims. The videos or photos of a sexual nature are sometimes sent directly to the victim's family members. Some of these victims sink into depression, others decide to end their lives.

With the successive confinements in which France was plunged during the health crisis, the number of victims of revenge porn has exploded. For cause, the constrained limitation of the movements led many couples to exchange more and more erotic or sexual images. Teenagers spend more and more time on social networks and instant messaging. It is in this context that many "Fisha" or "Ficha" accounts (in reverse slang for french word "Affiche", meaning "shaming") have emerged on the Internet. These accounts broadcast hijacked photos on the internet, for example on Twitter or Instagram, often with the identity, address or phone number of the victim.

Out of guilt or a sense of helplessness, many of these victims do not press charges and have the greatest difficulty seeking help from their family or loved ones.

The firm's lawyers are particularly sensitive to these mechanisms and encourage victims not to remain isolated. There are solutions, especially judicial ones. Do not remain alone.

Jérôme Navy ❘ Lawyer at the Paris Bar