Revenge porn: Jury awards $1.2 billion to Texas victims

“You will spend the rest of your life trying in vain to remove yourself from the internet. Everyone you will ever meet will hear the story and go in search. Happy hunting.” Such threats, backed by the distribution of intimate photos via social media, and other forms of image-based sexualized violence are said to cost a US citizen dearly: A jury of the District Court for Harris County in Texas awarded his ex-girlfriend from Houston a total of 1.2 billion US dollars too. The jury set $200 million for past and future mental anguish and $1 billion as exemplary damages.

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The jury, according to the plaintiff’s law firm, saw evidence that her former partner “acted with intent” to “embarrass, harass, distress, watch,” the couple’s split after around five years in 2020 and 2021 humiliate and publicly shame”. Her trial attorney, Bradford Gilde, had accused the defendant of sharing revenge porn to cause a combination of psychological and sexual abuse and domestic violence. Evidence from the trial showed the suspect intended the ex-wife’s pain to last “forever”.

Access to surveillance cameras

According to media reports, the woman moved back to her mother after the separation. Her ex-boyfriend is said to have kept the credentials for her email and social media accounts and gained access to the surveillance camera system at the mother’s home, which allowed him to obtain intimate photos of the plaintiff. He is said to have tagged friends and family when he posted the footage online, along with information about her workplace and gym. The woman is said to have thought about suicide. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Her lawyers are seeking $100 million in damages.

Gilde thanked the jury for “complaining against the defendant’s heinous conduct and image-based sexual abuse.” He conceded that the amount of damages would probably not last in full and should be understood symbolically. With its announcement of the abused, however, the jury “gives back its good name”. The decision was also an appeal by the jury, the lawyer emphasized, with a view to the rampant revenge porn, “to raise awareness of this technology-driven national epidemic”.

According to the National Association of Attorneys General, as of 2019, at least 40 million US citizens reported being victims of image-based sexual abuse. When a jury in a US civil court awards a damages award, it is up to the plaintiff to take further action if the defendant fails to pay. For example, he may seek another relevant court order or involve a debt collection agency.

In the Texas case, the defendant did not appear in court, hire an attorney, or respond to a court summons for the trial, according to the Washington Post. The legal dispute is likely to continue. In Germany, the Bundestag tightened the criminal law provisions against cyberstalking and image-based sexual violence in 2021. A prison sentence of up to five years can be imposed for particularly serious cases, including the use of so-called stalkingware for digital spying.

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(mack)

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