Revenge Porn Update 2015: Tech Companies Enforce New Policies On Illicit Content

Microsoft announced its intention to crack down on revenge porn in a blog post entitled "'Revenge Porn': Putting victims back in control" on July 22. The post, written by Jacqueline Beauchere, Microsoft's chief safety officer, highlighted the company's new website and reporting policy, which sought to make removal quicker and more complete.

Revenge porn usually refers to one party, often an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, posting intimate photos or videos of someone online without their consent. First Amendment laws make these photos or videos difficult to get removed, though Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and other tech companies often offer their own private services for removing these posts from search results.

Microsoft's new reporting website aimed to make removal of photos quicker and easier. "When someone shares intimate images of another person online without that person’s consent, the effects can be truly devastating," Beauchere wrote.

There have been several high-profile incidents of suicide due to sexual photos posted online. In April 2015, the parents of Audrie Pott accepted a settlement of $950,000 after she committed suicide following an incident where several teenage boys sexually assaulted her and posted pictures of the assault online, the San Jose Mercury News reported. "Unfortunately, revenge porn is on the rise across the globe. It can damage nearly every aspect of a victim’s life: relationships, career, social activities. In the most severe and tragic cases, it has even led to suicide," wrote Beauchere.

Beauchere noted that even when search engines delete search results, if the content is hosted elsewhere, there's little that tech companies can do. Though nothing can be completely erased from the internet, Microsoft will delete any revenge porn from their servers OneDrive and XBox Live. She wrote: "Clearly, this reporting mechanism is but one small step in a growing and much-needed effort across the public and private sectors to address the problem."