Following the ugly incidences whereby ex-partners vengefully post porn videos or other sexually explicit images of their partners online, Google is rising up to the occasion by considering blocking such content from appearing in search results.
Google will not only prevent such images and videos from showing up on search results, but victims of revenge porn can directly request that such images or videos be pulled down or blacklisted.
According to Google’s Vice President Amit Singhal, all “nude or sexually explicit images” that are posted online without the express permission of the persons contained in them will no longer come up in search results – and this new censorship will take effect in the next few weeks.
Singhal pointed out that this move might not necessarily stop people from engaging in revenge porn, and that Google won’t be able to directly ban those images in websites, but they won’t show up in search results any longer based on people’s requests – and that should help some bit.
Meanwhile, England and Wales had earlier this year set down a law to jail anyone who shares intimate photos or videos of partners without direct consent. Now, Northern Ireland and Scotland might just do the same. Even then, California, Utah, and Texas among other US states have laws addressing revenge porn.
Last year in New Jersey, 24-year-old Anisha’s boyfriend was sent to six months behind bars for posting nude images of her online; and another individual Chrissy Chambers is currently prosecuting a civil action against her former British boyfriend for posting sexually explicit photos of her across the internet.