Someone is sharing my intimate images
Last updated: 02 June 2022
This guide covers situations where intimate images or videos are being shared online without consent.
If this is not your situation, these guides might be more useful:
- If someone is threatening to share your intimate images, see our guide Someone is threatening to distribute my intimate images
- If the image is not an intimate image, but is being shared in a lewd/sexualised way, see our guide Someone is sharing my images in a sexualised way
What is an intimate image?
We use ‘intimate image’ to refer to any image or video that shows:
- Nudity or someone’s genitals
- Someone in just their underwear
- Someone in a sexual situation or performing a sexual act
- Someone doing a private act like bathing or using the toilet
- Voyeuristic ‘upskirt’ content
- Or an image or video edited to show any of the above (e.g. adding your face to a nude photo)
If you are below 16 years old
Please reach out to a trusted adult now.
This can be your parents, your legal guardian, a school teacher, or a school counsellor. Let them know that this has happened to you. We know it is scary, but you may be in danger.
Remember that you have not done anything wrong and this is not your fault. Your friends might not know much more than you about this – a trustworthy adult can help you decide what to do.
Most of this guide is still applicable for you, but don’t deal with this alone. Please find someone to support you.
What to do first?
Record what happened
Collect as much evidence as you can (e.g. take photos, screenshots, recordings) and start keeping notes of what happened. Do this before you do anything else. This is important because you will be asked for evidence when you report to platforms, the police, or courts.
Email these notes and the evidence to yourself or someone you trust. This will add a timestamp, which can help you to keep track of what happened and make this record more useful to the police or courts.
Remember to also keep yourself safe. Please do not put yourself in danger for the sake of collecting more evidence. Your safety is your number one priority.
Reach out to people you trust if you need help and support.
Block and report
Block anyone who contacts you in a harassing way – if it is safe to do so and only after you have collected evidence of them pressuring you.
Sometimes, someone might try to pressure you into sending them more images by threatening to share intimate images of yours that they already have. Please know that it is a crime for someone to threaten to share another person’s intimate images, and you can report them to the police. Keep records of these threats, then block that person.
You may also want to change your privacy settings or contact details. See our guides below to Identifying what information about you exists online and Limiting unwanted contact
What to do next?
Below, we’ve listed further actions you can take. These are all optional – it is up to you to decide what you would like to do.
Seek support
Please let people you trust know what happened. Ask them to support you and help with any actions you decide to take.
You can also reach out to the following services for support:
- All genders & ages – call 1800-777-0000 for the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline – dedicated 24-hour helpline for reporting violence and abuse
- Those 16 and older – call AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre Helpline (6779-0282, Mon - Fri, 10am - 6pm). The case managers at SACC have experience helping clients who have had their intimate images shared.
You can also refer to our directory Finding Support in Singapore to find a hotline, legal clinic, mental healthcare provider, or other social service that best fits your needs.
Identify information
Identify what information people can find out about you based on what you’ve shared online, especially if you are worried that malicious people would try to contact you.
We have a guide to help you with this. It walks you through the steps of figuring out what information people can already find about you online, and what else they can learn about you from this (e.g. if they know your full name, they are likely to be able to find your Facebook).
Limit unwanted contact
Once you have identified what information about you is accessible online, you may want to remove any info you no longer want to share. Secure your accounts and adjust your privacy settings to minimise unwanted contact.
Our guide to limiting unwanted contact includes specific instructions for adjusting your online privacy settings, securing your online accounts, and other measures for minimising the risk of unwanted contact and harassment.
Request takedowns
Read our guide to filing online takedown requests. It outlines what you need to do to get your intimate images taken down from websites or platforms.
The guide also has instructions for getting search engines to remove webpages with your images from search results.
Make a police report
You can consider making a police report. It is a crime to possess, gain access to, or distribute intimate images or recordings.
Guide to Making a police report
What counts an 'intimate image' under the law?
An intimate image or recording is defined as:
- Pictures or videos of your genital/anal regions, whether bare or covered by underwear
- Pictures or videos of your breasts, if you are female, whether bare or covered by underwear
- Pictures or videos of you performing a ‘private act’ that you would not expect to be recorded, such as bathing, using the toilet, or performing a sexual act
- Pictures or videos that have been altered to show you doing any of the above (e.g. someone photoshopped your face onto the body of a person doing a sexual act)
Apply for a remedy under POHA
You may wish to consider applying for a civil remedy under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA)
Under POHA, you can apply for civil remedies relating to harassment (e.g. protection order, expedited protection order) or remedies relating to false statement of facts (e.g. stop publication order, correction order). If your claim is successful, a judge can order the relevant parties to stop their behaviour and take down the posts or images.
Our guide to applying for a remedy under POHA provides further information on POHA and the application process.
Guide to Applying for a remedy under POHA
If you are unsure of your legal rights, you may wish to seek legal advice: Find legal support
If you want to report someone to the police so that the police may conduct investigations, you may wish to make a police report instead.
Other questions
What if I initially took this image myself?
It is still wrong for people to share your intimate images, regardless of whether they were taken consensually. You are not to blame and the law still criminalises the sharing of these images without your consent.
What if the person sharing this image is my partner or someone I was dating?
It is wrong for anyone to violate your consent, regardless of whether you have a relationship with them. Consenting to one thing, e.g. having sex or taking intimate images, does not mean you consented to anything else, e.g. these images being shared.
Additionally, under the law, there are greater penalties for offences against victims in an intimate partner relationship (whether dating or married).
Does this only happen to women?
No. Men, women, and non-binary individuals experience this in Singapore. This kind of violation is wrong regardless of your gender.
