What to do if you shared someone's intimate image or video

There are things you can do to limit the damage if you have shared an intimate image or video of someone without their consent.

On this page:

• What is image-based abuse or ‘revenge porn’?
• What are the consequences?
• How can I stop the image or video spreading?
• How can I help prevent image-based abuse?

Image-based abuse – sometimes called ‘revenge porn’ – is when someone shares, or threatens to share, an intimate photo or video of another person without their consent. 

Examples of image-based abuse include:

• sharing a nude selfie of your ex-partner on Instagram 
• altering a photo to make someone you know look naked, then emailing it to lots of people
• threatening to post a sexual video of a person on a porn site
• tagging a nude with someone’s name, even though it’s not them.  

There are no excuses for image-based abuse. It doesn’t matter if you felt hurt after a relationship break-up, or you thought it would be funny – it’s never OK to share an intimate image or video without the consent of the person in it.

If you’ve done this, it’s a breach of trust and it’s illegal. Finding out what you can do to help fix it is a good first step towards limiting the damage. 

Image-based abuse can have a devastating impact on the person you did it to, now and in the future. It can harm their mental health and reputation. It can also lead to ongoing abuse and harassment by others who see the image or video.

What you have done is also illegal in Australia, so it can affect your future in many ways including:

• exclusion from your school or other studies
• exclusion from child-related employment in the future
• loss of your job
• criminal charges
• fines or damages payments
• harm to your reputation 
• loss of trust from others.

You may never be able to repair your relationship with the person, but you may be able to reduce the harm done to them – if you act quickly. Making an effort to fix what you have done will also be taken into account if there’s an investigation.

You can learn from this experience, and tell others so they learn from it too.

• Never share an intimate image or video of a person without checking with them first, even if you think they might be OK with it.
• Remember that even threatening to share an intimate image or video is a breach of trust and illegal.
• If someone shares an intimate image or video of a person without their consent, of threatens to do it, call them out. If you know the person in the image or video, let them know how to get help.
• If someone has sent you an intimate image or video of another person, delete it and tell the sender that sharing intimate content without consent is harmful and illegal.
• If people are talking about sharing an intimate image or video without consent, tell them it’s not OK. 

Help in languages other than English

Call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to contact one of the helplines for you.

If you are deaf or have a hearing impairment

Contact Speak and Listen (relay call options) on 1300 555 727 and ask them to contact a helpline for you.