In Belgium, the man who did not delete the pornographic images of his ex-girlfriend despite the court decision was fined 420,000 euros.
A 38-year-old man in Belgium, who was determined to distribute the naked images of his girlfriend over the internet and did not remove them despite the court decision, paid a fine of 420 thousand euros.
The court stated that the Belgian man did not do enough to remove the “revenge porn” images he shared on the internet, and imposed a fine of 10 thousand euros for each image that remained on the air.
According to the news of Knack magazine published in Belgium, the couple living in the Flemish part separated in 2020. A few weeks later, the 38-year-old Belgian man shared nude images of his girlfriend, whom he broke up with in revenge, on the internet.
Stating that her images were distributed against her will, the Belgian woman applied to the Ghent Court in December 2020 and filed a complaint against her ex-boyfriend and Google.
Her boyfriend, who broke up with her, admitted that she shared the images herself and posted them on porn sites to get revenge.
Court; While deciding to remove the images immediately, the woman’s ex-boyfriend was fined 10 thousand euros for each image that was not removed on the internet.
However, nude images of the Belgian woman continued to circulate on the internet. Thereupon, the woman’s lawyers applied to the court again in September 2021 and reported that 42 images of the Belgian woman were still online.
The woman’s lawyers asked for enforcement proceedings to collect from her ex-boyfriend a total of 420 thousand euros, out of 10 thousand euros per image. The enforcement judge decided the application in September 2022 and decided in favor of the Belgian woman.
Emphasizing that the person who spread revenge porn did not make the necessary effort to remove the images, the executive judge decided that 420,000 euros would be collected through foreclosure.
The decision will set a precedent
All of the Belgian man’s assets worth 420,000 euros, including his house, were confiscated. According to the victims’ lawyers, the decision of the executive judge will set a precedent for similar cases in the future.
It is stated that the decision of the enforcement judge has become even more interesting, since the criminal case regarding revenge porn has not yet been concluded.
Google spokesman Michiel Sallaets said in a statement to the magazine that they have always worked with victims to remove the images and with the police to track down the perpetrators, but in the last case, the process took longer because they objected to an emergency search warrant.
Sallaets said it has spoken to the Belgian Institute for Gender Equality (IGVM) to prepare a step-by-step guide on how organizations like Google, Facebook and TikTok can report images to these platforms.
Thanks to the prepared guide, victims will be able to remove the images themselves.
According to the report of the Institute for Gender Equality (IGVM), 1 in 100 adult Belgians are faced with revenge porn.
For the Belgian population aged 18 to 64, this amounts to about 70,000 victims, according to the report. In half of the cases, the perpetrator is a former spouse or lover. One third of perpetrators are acquaintances, friends or close girlfriends.
In the IGVM report, it was emphasized that only one out of every 6 victims filed a formal complaint.
The government is preparing to ease the complaint in cases of online revenge porn. In Belgium, those who distribute obscene images without the consent of the person are sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.
Internet platforms that do not remove images are fined.