Nothing can truly prepare you for the moment you see your nudes shared online. The uncertainty of the exposure, wondering if friends, family, or coworkers have seen the content, can be overwhelming. The shock can trigger a flood of thoughts and emotions, leaving you unable to decide what to do next. Despite everything you may be experiencing, protecting yourself from further abuse is the top priority. Continue reading to learn everything you need to know to take action after non-consensual intimate image abuse.
How Nudes Get Leaked
The perpetrators can be anyone: friends, family members, partners, acquaintances — and of course, strangers. However, most victims of non-consensual intimate image (NCII) abuse know their offender. According to a report from the Revenge Porn Helpline, almost 60% of identifiable perpetrators in NCII abuse cases were current or former partners.
Many instances of victimization stem from sexting. After engaging in a sexually intimate relationship, partners or former partners may feel slighted by a conflict in the relationship and retaliate by sharing nudes. Another common way nudes are shared is through unauthorized access to your device or accounts, either in-person or via hacking.
What Happens If My Nudes Get Leaked?
Unfortunately, having your nudes posted online can affect many areas of your life — like your relationships, career, and reputation. The platform used to share the nudes plays a vital role in how it will impact you.
Social media is a common platform for NCII abuse. While most platforms have community guidelines against nudity for public posts, these rules do not apply to direct messages. Perpetrators can exploit this by sending NCII content directly to the victim’s followers or friends.
On Twitter/X, for example, sexually explicit posts do not necessarily go against community guidelines. This allows cybercriminals to publicly share NCII material with minimal pushback from the platform since it struggles to differentiate between consensually and non-consensually distributed content. There are, of course, sexually explicit websites where this content can be hosted as well. These websites are more difficult to work with, which can make removing the content challenging.
What to Do If Your Nudes Get Leaked
Whether you are panicking or frozen in shock, your feelings are valid and normal to have. It’s extremely common to panic in the midst of having your intimate images exposed. However, this can often lead to hasty decisions that are not the best for your situation. There are actions you can take to protect yourself and mitigate the damage from the leaked nudes. However, you will need to act with urgency.
Don’t Blame Yourself
Revenge porn is a crime and a complete betrayal of trust. However, it’s normal to feel guilty after being betrayed. Victims often blame themselves when their nudes are leaked. However, it is never their fault that someone else invaded their privacy. Many of these criminals use emotional manipulation and vulnerabilities to gain the trust of unsuspecting victims only to exploit that confidence.
Assess Where the Leak Came From
Before you can take steps to protect yourself, you need to identify where the leak came from. We’ve discussed the most common perpetrators of NCII abuse. Based on the content that was shared along with other contextual details, you can narrow down if this was a former partner, someone you know, or a stranger. Once you have a good idea of how it was shared, you can take the proper steps to protect yourself.
Get Your Nudes Removed
Many online platforms and search engines have built-in tools that help victims get NCII content removed. Social media platforms have a reporting system that allows users to notify the platform about content that violates their community standards. Search engines like Google also have a content removal form specifically for NCII abuse, which can remove offending links from Google Search results.
Update Your Privacy and Security Settings
The uncertainty around how your nudes were leaked highlights the importance of victims securing their accounts and devices and protecting themselves from further abuse. Making your online profiles private can help prevent strangers with harmful intentions from targeting you with a scheme.
You should also enable two-factor authentication wherever possible. This setting can prevent account takeovers — even if your login credentials are compromised. The cornerstone of online security is passwords. In the modern age, passwords need to be complex and unique to keep your information safe.
Preserve All Evidence
When it comes to what to do if someone posts your nudes, protecting yourself is important — and so is taking action against your offender. Whether the perpetrator is anonymous or not, preserving the evidence of NCII abuse is essential to holding them accountable. Be sure to take screenshots of any communication with the attacker and the profile that originally shared the images or videos. You can also look for any evidence of account breaches, including the date and time they occurred, to establish a possible timeline of events.
Report to Law Enforcement
Reporting the NCII abuse to the authorities is always recommended when asking what you should do if someone shares your nudes. The police can help you file an official report that includes your collected evidence and helps build a case against the cybercriminal responsible.
For anonymous perpetrators, some local police departments have cybercrime units that specialize in cases like NCII abuse and can investigate the incident to uncover the offender’s identity. The FBI also has the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the national hub for reporting cybercrimes. Filing a report to the IC3 not only helps the FBI track trends, but they can also collaborate with international law enforcement agencies to pursue perpetrators — even if they are located outside of the U.S.
Use Victim Support Resources
There are many non-profits and online tools created to support victims and provide help on what to do if someone shares their nudes. Here are the main resources to look into:
- Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI): A non-profit that supports victims of NCII with legal guidance, a 24/7 hotline for emotional support, and educational resources.
- StopNCII.org: A global tool that allows victims to submit the content being posted without their consent and have it removed from certain social media platforms and websites.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: A free and confidential service that focuses on domestic abuse but also supports victims of NCII. You can call, chat online, or text the hotline to get in contact with a live advocate.
Talk to Someone
Being a victim of NCII abuse can be devastating on many levels. There is a lot of distress, fear, anger, and anxiety that can come from being exposed. However, what can make things harder is facing all of it alone. Talking to someone during this experience can alleviate the overwhelming emotions you are feeling. It can also help calm your mind, allowing you to make informed decisions. This person can be a trusted friend, family member, therapist, or advocate at a non-profit.
Identify the Perpetrator with Digital Investigators
The criminals responsible for NCII abuse tend to hide behind anonymity. This protects them from being held accountable and allows them to operate in secrecy. However, cybersecurity experts can investigate anonymous incidents and trace the exposure back to its original source. Using digital forensics, they can trace the digital footprint to the culprit’s geolocation and, in some cases, identify the perpetrator. The findings from the digital investigation can be used as evidence in court proceedings against the offender.
What to Do When Nudes Leak? Call Cyber Investigation for Help
Cyber Investigation has a team of cybercrime experts that know exactly what to do if your nudes are shared. Using state-of-the-art technology, we can follow the digital trail of NCII abuse to its original source through methods like metadata analysis and IP tracking, which can help uncover the criminal’s geolocation. From there, we can work to identify the perpetrator and use their exposed identity as leverage to pressure them into removing the NCII content and stopping any further abuse.
We also work quickly to remove any private content that was posted online without your consent and offer an ongoing monitoring service that tracks any further postings after the initial incident has been handled. At Cyber Investigation, we provide all of this and more to protect your online reputation and to mitigate any damage from exposure. You don’t have to experience this alone. Reach out today and let our experts help you through it.
