Finding yourself a victim of revenge porn – intimate photographs or video being posted online without the consent of the person(s) appearing in the picture/clip – can have devastating consequences for those involved. In June, Last Week Tonight’s news satirist John Oliver took on the issue of revenge porn, discussing the huge psychological, social and financial issues that can face a target, but also the dire lack of law enforcement that might prevent an attack occurring in the first place.

According to New York based law firm C. A. Goldberg, PLLC 16 U.S. states now have criminal laws against revenge porn, while in further 12 states legislation is pending. Laws in each state differ, and from time to time victims find that there isn’t much they can do.

Microsoft has now joined Google in the fight against nonconsensual pornography in making sure clips or images won’t show up in search results. The two tech giants are also joined by Twitter Inc. and Reddit Inc. in taking action against the sharing of private sexual material.

Just as Google has done, Microsoft will help victims remove links to material in Bing on request, as well as remove access to images and video when shared on OneDrive or Xbox Live. Microsoft has also created a report page to make the complaint easier. At the moment the page is only in English, but Microsoft has said other languages will become available soon.

Speaking of the move, Microsoft’s head of online safety, Jacqueline Beauchere, said in a blog post titled ‘Revenge porn:’ Putting victims back in control’, “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.” However, she acknowledges that tackling the problem will take much more than taking down links, which in itself poses its own set of administrative and ethical conundrums.

A list of how to report revenge porn on various social media platforms can be found here. Victims can also visit Without My Consent to seek more information on how they might take action.

Photo credit: Christopher Paquette via Flickr