New York Revenge Porn Laws: Suing for Non-Consensual Image Sharing Under Civil Rights Law 52-b

Having intimate, private images shared on the internet without your consent is a devastating violation of trust and privacy. Often referred to as "revenge porn," non-consensual image sharing aims to destroy a victim's personal and professional life. New York State takes these acts incredibly seriously. Whether the abuser is a vindictive ex-partner in Manhattan or an anonymous extortionist online, residents in cities like Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City are armed with powerful civil and criminal laws to fight back. Because immediate action is required to scrub these images from the internet, contacting an aggressive privacy lawyer from our US Lawyers directory is a necessary first step.

Step-by-Step Process to Protect Yourself and Seek Justice

Fighting back against non-consensual image sharing involves a multi-pronged legal strategy aimed at both stopping the spread of the images and punishing the perpetrator.

Step 1: Issuing DMCA Takedowns and Cease-and-Desists

Your immediate priority is containment. Under federal copyright law, if you took the photo (a selfie), you own the copyright. Your attorney can immediately send a DMCA takedown notice pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) to the web hosts, search engines (like Google), and social media platforms hosting the images. The platforms are legally required to remove the images rapidly to avoid liability. Simultaneously, your lawyer will send a fierce Cease-and-Desist letter to the abuser, demanding they destroy all copies of the media.

Step 2: Filing a Police Report

Revenge porn is a crime. You should file a formal report with your local police precinct or the New York City Police Department Special Victims Division, New York. Provide the police with screenshots, text messages showing the abuser threatening you, and any links where the images are posted. This police report serves as critical evidence for your civil lawsuit.

Step 3: Pursuing Civil Lawsuits Under N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 52-b

Under N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 52-b, victims have the explicit right to sue the person who disclosed the images in New York Supreme Court. You can seek a temporary restraining order (injunction) forbidding the abuser from further sharing the content. Furthermore, you can sue for substantial financial compensation. The law allows victims to recover actual damages (such as lost wages or therapy costs), massive punitive damages designed to financially ruin the abuser, and all attorney's fees.

Step 4: Understanding the Criminal Charges

While your lawyer handles the civil lawsuit, the local District Attorney can prosecute the abuser criminally. Under N.Y. Penal Law § 245.15, the unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image is a Class A misdemeanor. Historically, in cases like People v. Barber, 42 Misc. 3d 1225(A) (NY City Crim. Ct. 2014), courts were forced to dismiss charges because New York lacked a dedicated statute criminalizing non-consensual pornography-a gap the legislature specifically remedied by enacting N.Y. Penal Law § 245.15, punishable by up to one year in jail.

Fighting AI-Generated Deepfake Pornography

The rise of Artificial Intelligence has spawned a new nightmare: deepfake pornography. Malicious actors use regular photos of victims from social media and use AI software to digitally strip them or create explicit depictions. Under N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 52-c, victims have a private right of action to sue creators and distributors of non-consensual sexually explicit depictions created through digitization. Concurrently, the criminal statute under N.Y. Penal Law § 245.15 was expanded to encompass intimate images created or altered by digitization, subjecting perpetrators to criminal prosecution.

Stopping Extortion and Sextortion Schemes on Dating Apps

Many New York residents fall victim to "sextortion" rings on popular dating apps. A scammer will convince a victim to send an intimate photo, and then instantly threaten to send that photo to the victim's family, employer, or LinkedIn connections unless a ransom is paid via cryptocurrency or gift cards. This elevates the crime from revenge porn to Grand Larceny by Extortion under N.Y. Penal Law § 155.05(2)(e). If you are facing sextortion, do not pay the ransom. Contact a lawyer and law enforcement immediately to deploy digital tracking and containment strategies.

Halting Harassment via OnlyFans Leaks

For individuals who create consensual adult content on paywalled platforms like OnlyFans, having subscribers illegally download, leak, and distribute that content on free forums is a massive violation of both privacy and intellectual property. Because the creator owns the copyright to the leaked material, attorneys can use aggressive DMCA takedowns and file federal copyright infringement lawsuits, seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per willful infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2) against the responsible subscriber.

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