B.C. man awarded $5k after intimate images shared without consent

A B.C. man has been awarded $5,000 in damages after his intimate images were shared online without his consent.

The plaintiff, identified as B.D.S., brought the claim against a man known as M.W. to the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, after images in a private chat were shared on social media platform X.

The tribunal ruled that while M.W. was not responsible for the images being posted online, he did share them from a private chat without consent.

The tribunal ordered “M.W. and any other person who shared the photos to immediately” delete or destroy all copies of the image in their possession or control, and to “make every reasonable effort to make the photos unavailable to others.”

Images are also to be de-indexed from search engines, with the tribunal also ordering “internet intermediaries or any other person or organization to immediately”:

• Remove the photos from any platform it operates and from any other electronic form of application, software, database, or communication method;
• Delete or destroy the photos, and
• De-index the photos from any search engine.

Earlier this year, B.C. passed legislation allowing the tribunal to rule on these type of cases.

The Intimate Images Protection Act aims to provide more legal options for victims whose images are being circulated, and means perpetrators can be ordered to pay fines if the image is not taken down. Emotional support, information and resources are also being provided to victims as part of the act.

“Our new law and the system we’ve put in place with the expedited take-down orders that are distributed directly to the tech companies like Google and Facebook, and others, to get those images taken down, will address those issues,” Premier David Eby said in January.

B.C.’s legislation encompasses intimate images, near-nude images, videos, livestreams, and digitally altered images, or deep fakes. Anyone 14 and older can apply for a protection order without an adult’s consent.