Revenge Porn
You Have A Right To Sue Anyone Who Unlawfully Posts, Publishes, Or Shares Your Private Nude Or Sexually Explicit Photos Or Videos Online Without Your Consent. Fight Back Against Revenge Porn And Hold Them Accountable.
Call 612-379-8800
You have a legal right to keep your private, intimate photographs and videos private. No one has the right to publish, distribute, or share your nude or sexually explicit images without your consent. This unlawful conduct, commonly known as “revenge porn,” is prohibited under Minnesota and federal law. Even if you voluntarily took the photographs or shared them with a former spouse, romantic partner, or another person, that does not give anyone permission to distribute them to others. Victims of revenge porn may bring civil lawsuits against those responsible and recover substantial monetary damages. Under federal law, qualifying victims may recover their actual damages or $150,000 in liquidated damages, together with reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs. Minnesota law also permits recovery of damages for emotional distress, financial losses, and a civil penalty of up to $10,000, together with attorney’s fees and costs. Courts may also issue injunctions prohibiting further dissemination of the images.
Revenge porn is a serious invasion of personal privacy that can destroy reputations, damage careers, interfere with personal relationships, and cause lasting emotional harm. The law protects victims from individuals who use intimate photographs or videos as weapons of humiliation, harassment, intimidation, or retaliation. These protections may also extend to sexually explicit images created or manipulated using artificial intelligence, commonly called “deepfakes.” The deck is often stacked against victims who fear embarrassment, public exposure, or retaliation if they take legal action. You should not allow those fears to prevent you from exercising your legal rights. Our law firm has the resources and litigation experience to pursue those who unlawfully exploit your private images. We can bring civil lawsuits in state or federal court, seek substantial monetary damages, pursue injunctions to stop further distribution, and seek available protections to preserve your identity and privacy during litigation. If someone has published or distributed your private sexual images without your permission, you have the right to fight back. We will work to hold those responsible accountable and pursue every remedy available under the law.
Your Rights AGAINST REVENGE PORN.
Were Your Private Nude Or Sexual Photos Shared Without Your Consent?
Federal and Minnesota laws protect you against the unlawful publication or distribution of your private nude or sexually explicit photographs and videos. This illegal conduct is commonly called “revenge porn.” If a former spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, romantic partner, or anyone else shared your intimate images without your permission, you may have the right to sue them for substantial monetary damages. Even if you voluntarily took the pictures or originally shared them with someone you trusted, that does not mean you consented to having them distributed to others. Federal law allows qualifying victims to recover actual damages or $150,000 in liquidated damages, together with reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs. Minnesota law provides additional civil remedies.
Step 1. Preserve the Evidence.
This is critical. Before anything gets deleted, document exactly what happened. Take screenshots of the websites, social media posts, text messages, emails, or other communications showing that your private images were shared without your permission. Save the website addresses, dates, times, usernames, and names of anyone involved. If the person threatened to publish your pictures, preserve those threats as well. Do not delete communications from the person responsible, even if they are embarrassing or upsetting. You may need this evidence to prove your case later. If any images depict someone who was under 18, do not download, copy, or redistribute them. Preserve only the website addresses and related communications and seek assistance from law enforcement.
Step 2. Demand That the Images Be Removed.
If your private photographs or videos have been published on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok, or another website, report them immediately through the platform's nonconsensual intimate image removal process. Under the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act, covered online platforms generally must remove qualifying intimate images and known identical copies within 48 hours after receiving a valid removal request. Keep copies of your complaints, confirmation numbers, and any responses. If a covered platform refuses to comply, you can report the violation to the Federal Trade Commission. Do not assume that simply deleting one photograph will prevent someone from publishing it again.
Step 3.Make a Police Report
Revenge porn may also constitute a criminal offense. Contact your local police department and explain that someone has distributed your private sexual photographs or videos without your consent. Provide the officer with the identity of the person responsible, if known, and any evidence you have preserved. Ask for a police report and case number. Find out how to obtain a copy of the completed report. Criminal prosecution is separate from your right to bring a civil lawsuit. You do not need to wait for the police to finish their investigation before speaking with our law firm about your civil rights.
Step 4. Document the Damage to Your Reputation and Privacy.
Keep a written record of how the unlawful distribution has affected your life. Did someone send your photographs to your employer, coworkers, family members, friends, or acquaintances? Have you suffered embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, emotional distress, lost employment opportunities, or other financial harm? Have strangers contacted or harassed you because of the photographs? Save any messages you received from people who saw the images. These details may be important in proving your damages and obtaining compensation through a civil lawsuit.
Step 5. Protect Yourself Against Further Distribution.
Change your passwords and secure your email, social media accounts, cloud storage, and electronic devices if you believe someone accessed them without permission. Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible. If the person responsible continues threatening to distribute additional photographs, save those communications and avoid engaging in arguments or negotiations with them. Do not pay someone who demands money in exchange for removing the photographs without first obtaining legal advice. If your images were taken when you were an adult, StopNCII.org offers tools designed to help prevent their distribution on participating platforms. If you were under 18 when the images were taken, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Take It Down service may help.
Step 6. Call Our Law Firm.
(612) 379-8800
You do not have to tolerate someone using your most private photographs or videos to embarrass, intimidate, harass, or humiliate you. Our law firm can investigate whether your rights were violated under federal or Minnesota law and determine whether you have a viable civil lawsuit. We can seek monetary damages, attorney's fees and costs where authorized, and court orders prohibiting further publication or distribution of your intimate images. Minnesota law also provides procedures to protect a plaintiff's privacy through confidential court filings. If someone has published, distributed, or threatened to share your private nude or sexually explicit photographs without your permission, contact our law firm today. We can help you understand your legal options, protect your privacy, and hold the people responsible accountable.
FAQs
What kind of clients do you work with?
Our clients are good folks, just like you, who have had their most private and intimate photographs or videos shared with others without their permission. They may be victims of a former spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, romantic partner, or someone else they once trusted. Others have had their private images stolen, posted online, or distributed to friends, family members, coworkers, or employers. This unlawful conduct is commonly known as revenge porn, and federal and Minnesota laws provide important legal protections for victims.
Depending on the circumstances, the law prohibits individuals from engaging in conduct such as:
Publishing or distributing someone’s private nude or sexually explicit photographs or videos without their consent.
Sharing intimate images with an employer, family member, friend, or another person to embarrass, humiliate, or retaliate against someone.
Posting private sexual photographs or videos on social media, pornography websites, or other internet platforms without permission.
Using intimate photographs or videos to harass, intimidate, blackmail, or extort someone.
Distributing certain sexually explicit images that have been digitally altered or created using artificial intelligence, commonly called “deepfakes.”
If you have suffered from any of these abusive practices, you may be entitled to substantial monetary compensation. Under federal law, qualifying victims may recover their actual damages or $150,000 in liquidated damages, along with reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs. Minnesota law provides additional remedies, including compensation for emotional distress, financial losses, and a civil penalty of up to $10,000. Courts may also issue orders prohibiting further distribution of your private images.
We represent individuals whose privacy has been violated and who want to hold the people responsible accountable. Call us today to speak with an attorney about your revenge porn case.
How do you get paid your fees?
We evaluate revenge porn cases individually to determine whether we can pursue a successful recovery. For cases we accept on a contingency-fee basis, there is no attorney’s fee unless we obtain a recovery for you. We advance litigation costs subject to the terms of our representation agreement, and those costs are reimbursed from any recovery as provided in that agreement. Federal and Minnesota revenge porn laws also permit qualifying victims to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs from defendants who violate the law. We carefully evaluate the evidence, the applicable law, and the damages before deciding whether to accept a case. We want to make things right for you, and with more than 30 years of federal litigation experience, you can be assured that we will put our experience, resources, and litigation skills to work protecting your rights and pursuing the compensation you deserve.
How long will my case take?
Every case is different. Some revenge porn cases may settle quickly, particularly when the person responsible admits what happened or wants to avoid the expense and consequences of litigation. Other cases may take considerably longer, especially when the defendant denies responsibility, disputes the damages, or refuses to settle. Generally speaking, approximately one and a half years from filing to resolution can be a reasonable planning estimate for a federal civil lawsuit, although some cases resolve much sooner and others take significantly longer. It depends on the evidence, the extent of your damages, whether the person responsible can be identified, and whether the defendant wants to fight the case or settle.
If your private photographs or videos are still being distributed, we may also be able to seek immediate court intervention to prevent additional harm. Under appropriate circumstances, courts can issue temporary restraining orders or injunctions prohibiting further publication or distribution of your intimate images. You do not necessarily have to wait until your entire lawsuit is finished to seek that relief.
What can I do to make my case successful?
PRESERVE EVERYTHING. Immediately document every instance in which your private photographs or videos were published, distributed, or threatened to be shared without your permission. Save every text message, email, social media message, voicemail, and other communication from the person responsible. Do not delete anything, even if the messages are embarrassing or upsetting.
Take screenshots of websites, social media posts, conversations, and messages showing that your intimate images were distributed without your consent. Record the date, time, website address, username, and identity of anyone involved. If someone sent your private photographs to your employer, coworkers, friends, or family members, document exactly what happened and preserve any communications from those individuals.
We strongly recommend that you do the following:
Save copies of every text message, email, voicemail, or other communication involving your private photographs or videos.
Take screenshots of online postings, including the website address, date, time, and identity of the person who published them.
Keep a written record of anyone who received or viewed the photographs or videos without your permission.
Preserve any threats, demands for money, harassment, or attempts to intimidate you using your private images.
Document any emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, lost employment opportunities, financial losses, or other damages you suffered.
Keep copies of police reports, social media complaints, website removal requests, and any responses you receive.
Do not confront or threaten the person responsible, and do not delete communications that may become important evidence.
If the images depict someone who was under 18 when they were created, do not download, duplicate, or forward them. Preserve identifying information and seek appropriate legal or law enforcement assistance.
Call our law firm to discuss your rights and determine whether you can recover monetary damages.
You have a right to privacy, and nobody has the right to exploit your most intimate photographs or videos simply because they once had access to them. Even if you voluntarily shared those images with someone you trusted, that does not give them permission to distribute them to others.
We can help you fight back, protect your privacy, and pursue those who violated your rights under federal or Minnesota law.