What is Revenge Porn and how is Delhi High Court cracking down on it?

The Delhi High Court is significantly displeased with how Internet platforms are working to facilitate the circulation of revenge porn. Here is what they have advised.

But first --

What is revenge porn?

Revenge porn, also known as non-consensual intimate images (NCII) abuse, is when a person shares explicit images or videos of another person without their consent. The images or videos are usually taken in private and are meant to remain private. 

The intention behind revenge porn is usually to humiliate, embarrass or blackmail the person in the content. Revenge porn is a violation of a person's privacy and can cause significant harm to the survivor.

Impact

The impact of this form of abuse on the survivor can be severe.

• Survivors often face social ostracisation and humiliation that can seriously impact their mental health.
• They can also lose their jobs and be turned away by their families.
• The psychological damage caused by revenge porn can be long-lasting and can lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts.

Delhi High Court's directive

In India, the IT Act (Information Technology Act) and IT Rules provide a legal framework to deal with revenge porn. Under the IT Rules, search engines are obligated to observe due diligence while discharging their duties, including making reasonable efforts to prevent hosting, display, uploading, or sharing any information that is invasive of another’s privacy and violates any law for the time being in force.

If the content even remotely resembles NCII material on the face of it, the search engine is required to take all reasonable and practicable measures to remove or disable access to such content, which is hosted, stored, published, or transmitted by it.

The Delhi High Court, in a recent case, has directed internet platforms to follow the IT Rules and cooperate unconditionally as well as expeditiously respond to the Delhi Police in such cases.

Importance of quick redressal 

The court has also advised that the intermediaries, who receive such complaints, should be appropriately sensitised and that the focus of Internet platforms and authorities should be on the quick redressal of the complaint brought before them rather than the shirking of blame or making submissions on the inconvenient nature of their duties as precious time is lost.

What it means, basically, is that the court has advised that websites and apps should take complaints seriously and act quickly to remove harmful content. They shouldn’t make excuses for their duties, as this wastes time. 

• If a survivor approaches a court or a law enforcement agency and obtains a takedown order, a token or a digital identifier-based approach must be adopted by search engines to ensure that the de-indexed content does not resurface.
• If the survivor subsequently discovers that the same content has resurfaced, then it is the responsibility of the search engine to use the tools that already exist to ensure that access to the offending content is immediately ceased without requiring the survivor to approach the courts or other authorities again and again for removal of the same.

What this essentially means is that if someone gets a court order to remove content, search engines should use a system to make sure it doesn't come back. If it does come back, the search engine should remove it right away without the person having to go back to court. 

Third-party encrypted platform

The court has also suggested that a trusted third-party encrypted platform may be developed by the Information and Technology in collaboration with various search engines for registering the offending NCII content and then removing it through a safe and secure process, considering the issues of privacy of the survivor and misuse of data.

The legal framework in India provides a mechanism for survivors of NCII abuse to seek redressal, and the Delhi High Court has directed Internet platforms to follow the IT Rules and cooperate with law enforcement agencies. The court's advice to have a trusted third-party encrypted platform may help in dealing with the issue in a more systematic and effective manner in the future.