FTC, Nevada Working To Shut Down Revenge Porn Website
The United States Federal Trade Commission and the state of Nevada are aiming to halt the operation of revenge porn site MyEx.com, a website that encourages people to upload photos and personal information about people without their consent.
According to the complaint filed to federal court Tuesday, there were about 12,620 entries published on the site as of December 2017—most of which include photos and personal information including full names.
The FTC said that some of the entries, which are submitted without the permission of the victims, include details such as names, addresses, details about the victim’s employer and social media account information that can be used to stalk or harass a victim.
MyEx.com does offer victims the ability to ask for information to be removed—a standard and insufficient service that revenge porn sites often offer in order to make it appear as though they don’t host information without a person’s permission—but would charge for it. The site asked for victims to pay between $499 to $2,800 in order to have entries taken down.
Also flying in the face of the site’s attempts to protect victims is the explicit advertisement of its service. According to the FTC, MyEx.com has marketed itself as a place for those who feel wronged by a former lover to seek revenge.
The site has posted advertisements that include taglines like “MyEx GET REVENGE!” and “Naked Pics of Your Ex.” It also contains text on its website that urges visitors to “Add Your Ex,” and to “Submit Pics and Stories of Your Ex,” as well as to “Find Someone You Know.” It also advertised itself as a place where people could “get the dirt before you get hurt.”
Visitors to the site also have the ability to take part in the “revenge” services offered by the site, as they can rate the videos and pictures posted and leave comments about the victims. Those ratings can boost certain victims to the homepage where popular entries are highlighted, further exposing those victims.
“MyEx.com uses reprehensible tactics to profit off of the intimate details of individuals’ private lives,” Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen said in a statement. “People who were featured on this site suffered real harm, including the loss of money they paid to remove intimate images and personal information, loss of jobs, and being subject to threats and harassment.”
The FTC’s complaint names a number of defendants in the case including EMP Media, Inc., Aniello “Neil” Infante, Shad “John” Applegate and “one or more unknown parties doing business as Yeicox Ltd.” Details online for the companies and individuals associated with MyEx.com are sparse and primarily direct to the revenge porn site itself.
MyEx.com is not new to the scrutiny of the FTC. The government agency investigated the site in February 2017, when it asked a U.S. district court to order Infante to cooperate with its investigation after he failed to appear for a hearing.
The FTC has already approved a proposed settlement with Infante that would ban him from posting any personal information without consent and would fine him $205,000. The money from the payment would be given to the victims who paid him to take down their entries from the website.
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