What Is Image Based Abuse?

If you’re hearing about this for the first time, image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is the creating, threatening to share, sharing, or using of recordings (still images or videos) of sexually explicit or sexualized materials without the consent of the person depicted and/or for purposes of exploitation. It can happen with images and videos through hidden camera, deepfake/editing, AI, hacking/leaking, child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, catfishing, sextortion and prostitution. 

These images can circulate fast and be posted to pornography websites, social media sites, search engine sites or shared without consent to other platforms, often before the victim even realizes it has happened.  

The cruel irony is that there are currently no federal laws requiring websites which allow pornography on their platforms to verify the age and consent of every person depicted in those images. This is a massive gap in the law, and one that must be and can be immediately rectified. These platforms currently have the technology that is required to erase non consensual content but simply don’t want to to implement it.