British Columbia law against use of revenge porn to come into force

On January 29, 2024, the Intimate Images Protection Act comes into force. The goal of the Act and the accompanying Regulations is to enhance protection for people who have their intimate images released without consent, and to speed up the process for removing the images online. The Act also makes it an offence to threaten to distribute an intimate image depicting an individual.

An “intimate image” depicting an individual includes images of: (i) nudes or nearly nudes; (ii) an individual engaging in a sexual act; or (iii) an individual exposing genital organs, the anal region, or breasts.

Most lawyers will agree that going through the regular court process under the existing law is slow and expensive. The Act permits claimants to seek relief from the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) or through the Courts without notice and faster than under the current process. The CRT or Court has broad powers to order destruction of the images, removal of the images from online platforms, and de-indexing of the images from any search engine.

The accompanying Regulations set the administrative penalties payable under the Act at up to $500 per day for an individual (with a maximum payable of $10,000) and up to $5,000 per day for an internet intermediary (up to a maximum of $100,000). An internet intermediary is defined as an “organization that hosts or indexes third-party content through an online platform” and includes social media platforms.

The law also permits an individual who previously consented to distribution of an intimate image to revoke the consent at anytime. This is welcomes as consent is a power which ought to remain under the exclusive control of the affected individual at all times.

Intimate Images Protection Act.

Intimate Images Protection Regulation.