Image-based abuse

Image-based abuse is when someone shares or threatens to share an intimate image or video of a person without their consent. This form of abuse affects many Australians. It can affect anyone, regardless of age, race, religion or gender. 

Anyone can be an abuser, including:

• intimate partners
• ex-partners
• family members
• friends
• people you work with
• teachers
• strangers.

Image-based abuse can also be referred to as ‘revenge porn’, but it is not always about revenge. People might share intimate images to shame, control or make money from someone. 

Sexual extortion, also known as ‘sextortion’, is a form of blackmail. It occurs when someone threatens to share your image or video online unless you do what they say.  This can include sending more images or giving them money.

Revenge porn and sextortion are both illegal. 

If you are being blackmailed, you can report it and seek help.

Here are some examples of image-based abuse:

• Your ex-partner shares a nude photo of you on social media.
• Someone you work with edits a photo to make you appear naked, then emails it to others. Someone you are trying to break up with threatens to share a photo of you online having sex, unless you agree to talk to them
• A blackmailer threatens to send a video of you naked to your contacts, including your family and friends, unless you send them money. Someone posts a naked selfie of you on an adult website.
• Someone shares a photo of you without your hijab or turban.

Deepfake technology is a form of artificial intelligence that is becoming more common. It uses AI to change photos and videos of people and sometimes it is hard to tell if what you see is real or fake. This can happen to you even if you have never shared a private photo. Find out more on the eSafety website.

Laws on image-based abuse are different in each state and territory. However, the sharing of private material without consent is a crime in Australia. You can report it to the police.

Image-based abuse is never your fault. It is not okay and it is against the law. It doesn’t matter whether or not you give permission to share an image of yourself with another person. If that person has shared (or threatened to share) that image with others without your permission, they are to blame. They have betrayed your trust and broken the law. If you have experienced image-based abuse, please know, it is not your fault. You deserve support, respect, and safety. You may feel upset when someone shares or threatens to share an intimate image or video of you without your consent. You may also feel betrayed, scared, angry or ashamed. You are allowed to feel this way. You are not alone.

• contact the website or social media platform to request the image or video be removed
• many websites have an image removal request form you can submit
• Facebook uses photo-matching to stop the image from being uploaded again after you submit the form
• you can request for Google or Bing to remove the content from search results

You can also report image-based abuse to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. They will contact you and support you by:

• helping remove an image or video from social media, a website or app
• Supporting you if an intimate image has been shared by email or text without your consent
• giving advice on how to ask someone to delete an intimate image or video of you
• guiding you on how to collect evidence for the police.

• Around 1 in 10 Australians aged 18 and over have had a nude or sexual photo or video shared online without their consent
• Women are more likely than men to experience some forms of image-based abuse
• Abusers are more likely to be male
• Image-based abuse is more commonly experienced by:
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  • People with disability
  • People who identify as LGBTQIA+
  • Young people aged 16 to 29 years
• Reports of image-based abuse to eSafety have increased in recent years
• From August 2018 to June 2023, eSafety received over 19,000 reports of image-based abuse. About 63% of reports came from men, and 35% from women

Most reports from men were for sexual extortion. Women were more likely to report sharing or threats to share intimate images.