Belgian court convicts X of distributing intimate images without consent
X International Unlimited Company, the European division of the company behind social media platform X, has been found guilty by the Brussels Criminal Court of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. The company has been fined 24,000 euros but may still appeal the verdict.
The case centres on a six-second video clip showing a Belgian woman being raped, which was shared on social media platforms embedded within a longer video in 2020. The victim of the rape approached Belgium’s Institute for the Equality of Women and Men to have the images taken offline.
The institute, which since July 2020 has had the authority to provide legal assistance to people whose intimate images have been shared without consent, contacted the social media platforms, which took the video offline. With X, formerly Twitter, this proved more difficult.
The institute’s lawyers contacted the company via take-down notices and its online contact form, reporting a copyright infringement, the non-consensual distribution of intimate images and revenge porn resulting from a sexual offence.
Twitter repeatedly asked for proof that the lawyers had a mandate to act on behalf of the victim and requested her identity, before closing the case without further action. The video was only removed after an order from the investigating judge.
According to Twitter, the reports submitted by the institute were insufficiently clear: the images were not clearly sexually explicit, nor was it clear that the video had been made and distributed without consent. Though the video had been submitted as evidence on a CD-ROM during the judicial investigation, that CD-ROM was lost. Twitter saw this as grounds for declaring the criminal proceedings inadmissible.
"It is not clear what further information or context Twitter required in order to remove the images from its platform"
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office had also sought an acquittal, arguing that it was not clear from the video that a rape had taken place, and that it was insufficiently clear that the acts in question constituted revenge porn. The court has now completely dismissed those arguments
“If it is clear that the images contain sexually suggestive content, it is also irrelevant whether they were filmed with or without consent,” the court stated. “If the images are distributed without the consent of the parties, or one of the parties, a criminal offence has been committed … It is not clear what further information or context Twitter required in order to remove the images from its platform.”
The fact that the report originated from the institute and not from the victim herself is irrelevant, according to the court. It also ruled that the criminal proceedings were not inadmissible because the CD-ROM containing the images had been lost. However, given the considerable time since the events, the court decided to impose the minimum fine.
© PHOTO PQR / OUEST FRANCE / ELSA RANCEL
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