Revenge Porn: How to Report It and Request Removal

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

Sharing intimate images without consent affects thousands of victims in Brazil and is a crime under the Penal Code. Victims can have the content removed quickly, hold the offender criminally liable, and recover civil damages for pain and suffering (dano moral).

What revenge porn is and how Brazilian law defines it as a crime

“Revenge porn” refers to the sharing of images, videos, or edited montages with sexual or nude content without the consent of the person depicted. The person sharing them is usually a former partner or an acquaintance, or someone who obtained the material in an intimate setting. The problem has grown so large that it prompted specific legislative changes beginning in 2018 with Law 13.718, which added new offenses to the Penal Code and expanded protections for victims.

Article 218-C of the Penal Code punishes with imprisonment (reclusão) of one to five years anyone who offers, trades, makes available, transmits, sells, displays for sale, distributes, publishes, or discloses, by any means, a photograph, video, or other audiovisual record containing a scene of sex, nudity, or pornography without the victim’s consent. The penalty is increased by one-third to two-thirds if the offender maintains or has maintained an intimate relationship of affection with the victim, or if the aim is revenge or humiliation.

Beyond the criminal offense, Law 12.965/2014, Brazil’s Internet Civil Rights Framework (Marco Civil da Internet), contains a specific rule in Article 21. Under it, an internet application provider that hosts content generated by third parties is subsidiarily liable for the violation of privacy caused by sharing material showing nudity or private sexual acts if, after receiving an out-of-court notice from the victim, it fails to take the content down.

Immediate steps for victims: preserving evidence and contacting platforms

The first step after discovering that your images have been shared is to preserve the evidence. Screenshots of the posts, the profiles of the people sharing them, the full URLs, the comments, and the posting dates form the core of the evidence that will support the takedown request, the criminal case, and the civil lawsuit. A notarial record (ata notarial), drawn up at a notary’s office, is recommended. It gives public faith to digital content and protects the evidence against claims that it was tampered with.

The second step is to notify the platforms directly. Social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok, as well as messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram, maintain dedicated channels for reporting non-consensual intimate images. Article 21 of the Marco Civil da Internet waives the need for a court order to remove this specific type of content. An out-of-court notice from the victim or the victim’s legal representative is enough.

At the same time, the victim should file a police report, preferably at a police station specializing in cybercrime or at a women’s police station, depending on the nature of the case. The report starts the criminal investigation and allows investigators to request subscriber and connection data from providers. In urgent situations, it also supports a request for a protective order when the victim and the offender have an emotional bond, in which case the Maria da Penha Law (Brazil’s domestic violence law) applies.

At the same time, the victim should file a police report, preferably at a police station specializing in cybercrime or at a women’s police station, depending on the nature of the case.

Civil liability and damages for pain and suffering

The civil case runs in parallel with the criminal one and has its own goals: to compensate for the harm suffered and to discourage future misconduct. Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has established the position that sharing intimate images without consent causes dano moral that is in re ipsa, meaning it is presumed, so the victim does not have to prove the suffering. Showing who did it and that the images were shared is enough to establish the duty to pay compensation.

The amounts courts award vary with the extent of the sharing, the reach of the platforms used, how long the exposure lasted, the social fallout the victim suffered, and the offender’s financial means. Recent decisions have set compensation between fifteen and fifty thousand reais, with significant increases when there is proof of massive spread or serious consequences for the victim’s mental health, professional life, or family relationships.

You may also seek an urgent injunction ordering immediate removal of the content, with a daily fine for noncompliance, directed both at the person who shared it and at any platform that keeps the material available after being notified. Compensation can also cover material damages, when there is proof of expenses for psychological treatment, loss of employment, or direct financial harm resulting from the exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a platform have to remove the content after being notified?

The Marco Civil da Internet sets no express deadline. It requires only that removal happen within a reasonable time. In practice, the major platforms usually act on requests involving non-consensual intimate images within hours or a few days. If the content is not removed, the victim can file a lawsuit seeking an urgent injunction and a daily fine for noncompliance. At that point, the platform becomes jointly liable for keeping the content online.

Can you sue someone who only shared the images and was not the original source?

Yes. Article 218-C of the Penal Code punishes not only the person who first shares the material, but also anyone who offers, trades, makes available, transmits, distributes, or publishes it. Anyone who receives intimate images and forwards them in messaging groups or on social media commits the same crime and is equally liable in civil court for dano moral, even if they did not originate the sharing.

What should you do if the offender is in another state or country?

Under settled case law, territorial jurisdiction over cybercrimes can be fixed at the place where the crime is deemed to have been completed, which is understood to be where the victim lives and had their privacy violated. In cross-border cases, international legal cooperation allows IP addresses to be traced and the confidentiality of electronic data to be lifted with foreign providers, although the process takes longer. Global platforms, however, honor removal requests regardless of where the offender is located.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.