So how would you feel if your most private photos got shared by someone you trusted?

If you read my last post you’d have seen the amazing things social media sharing can do.

But here’s a twist. Its not all as good as it seems.

The internet can be a dark place. Sometimes you can just be scrolling on Facebook, and one minute you’re looking at a video of a Pug in a swimming costume, and the next you’re watching a 13 year old girl get her head stamped on by a chav. It can be pretty brutal.

The internet provides us with an unlimited amount of space to share and post whatever we like. But lets be honest, not everyone has the same morals as each other in day to day life. Let alone online, where they can get away with being anonymous.

Unfortunately unlike myself, not everyone just posts cute photos of dogs on their social media. Recently there has been an increase of hateful posts circulating the internet like wild fire. Revenge Porn is one of them.

So the story goes: Couple get together. Explicit images get sent. Relationship ends sourly. Images circulate the internet.

The outcome is savage. Unless you are a porn star, I very much doubt you want sexually explicit photos of yourself on the internet for all to see. A woman spoken to by the Independent said that the humiliation of being a victim of revenge porn “ruined her life”, after a picture of her  was viewed over 50,000 times online. This photo was shared and posted on multiple platforms, and uploaded from different accounts so that it was incredibly hard to track and get shut down. It sounds absolutely horrific.

Recently laws got bought in, in the UK, to clamp down on this occurring. On the Government website it states revenge porn as: “the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person ,without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress.” However there seems to be loop holes in the new law, with many people saying the laws are not strong enough, and not being taken seriously enough.  Americas laws on Revenge Porn however, are also very similar, leaving many people, such as man called Hunter Moore, to get away with a heavy amount of distribution of revenge porn.

Hunter Moore is an American self-professed “life ruiner” Who made thousands of dollars through a website called ‘upallnight.com’. A website that allowed angry ex’s to upload indecent photos of their previous partners, but also hacked women’s computers, uploaded their private sexual pictures, whilst putting their Facebook details and addresses next to this, obviously all without consent.So basically the guy is massive twat. His website got taken down in 2012, but it wasn’t until last year that he got any jail time. And guess what.

He only got 2 years jail time and a $500,000 dollar fine.

If that isn’t a joke, I’m not sure what is.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting in the unauthorised access of a computer. So not the sharing of indecent images without consent? or harassment? Nothing to do with the pure humiliation he unleashed on thousands of women he didn’t even know?

What makes it worse is that thousands of people thought this guy was great. He became some form of perverted celebrity. His ‘family’ as he called them, shared all his posts, promoting the humiliation of revenge porn and the degrading, often misogynistic, ideas behind them. The lack of punishment he got from what he’d done, has just encouraged people more that it is ok to do that. Which obviously is so wrong.

The thing is, you will always get people like this, people that have no moral compass and don’t care who they upset, if it isn’t effecting them. Unfortunately the internet gives them somewhere to thrive. And through sharing what they do, and supporting them, even if its just because you find it humorous, just encourages these people to do it more. On a Poll i posted on twitter, 50% of people said they would share or retweet a harmful post if they thought it was funny. Which to be honest is slightly worrying.

So yes, there are amazing things that can be done through sharing on Facebook and retweeting on Twitter. However the implications from sharing something that can be hurtful and upsetting can be massive, and also illegal. Many people are fighting for stronger, clearer laws to be bought in to protect against revenge porn. And rightly so.

Revenge Porn can be life ruining, and not only revenge porn, but any purposeful humiliating post.  So before you share, because you find it funny, imagine how you would feel if the post was about you.