Thousands of women unknowingly have intrusive photos shared on Twitter

[Tennis]

Covert photos taken of women on beaches, public transport and elsewhere in public have been shared to two hashtags, one since 2012 with Twitter under pressure to act

Thousands of women have had intrusive photographs, taken of themselves without their knowledge, circulated on Twitter for years.

Covert photos taken of women on beaches, public transport and elsewhere have been shared to two hashtags for several years with apparent impunity.

The images predominately focus on the women’s breasts and buttocks, but in many, their faces are visible. Some appear to be underage.

Guardian Australia has chosen not to name the hashtags so as not to compound the violation of the women’s privacy.

Yevgeniya Ivanyutenko, a Twitter user based in Montreal, Canada, came across the hashtags by accident in early June. She referred them to Twitter’s @Support account and called on her followers to do the same.


Not only did she not receive a response, attempts to formally report the accounts that had tweeted the hashtags were met with error messages. Twitter’s policy team has been contacted for comment.

Ivanyutenko told Guardian Australia that “literally zero accounts” seem to have been suspended. “I’m really concerned because Twitter is allowing photos of non-consenting women and minors to be posted to these hashtags.”

Research conducted by Max Kelsen, a social media analytics company, shows that close to 35,000 posts and retweets have been posted to the two hashtags in the past six years, but there was an explosion of activity in April this year.

Users posting and retweeting on these hashtags are almost exclusively male, and the majority are aged 17 and under. The majority – nearly 57% – are in the United States, with 14.3% from the UK and 11.7% from Mexico.

Ivanyutenko’s investigation of the hashtags revealed “a whole underground community for trading these pics”, hiding in plain sight, she said.

Some of the accounts are restricted to images taken in specific neighbourhoods or public places, such as Walmart. One of the hashtags “will make you never want to go to the beach again”.

“I got a response from one of the guys posting – before he blocked me, of course – saying that what he’s doing is under ‘free speech’.”

One account makes an active appeal to its more than 112,000 followers for “creepshots” that are “good enough to tweet or post” on its external website.

Another user, who has posted nearly 1,350 to the two hashtags, describes himself as an “old school creeper, enjoying the next generation creepers”.

Laws vary from state to state and country to country but generally people are allowed to take photos of people in public without their consent.

Last year an Oregon judge ruled that a 61-year-old man did nothing illegal when he crouched in the aisle of a Target store and snapped photos up a 13-year-old’s skirt.

Clandestine photography is banned in bathrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms and tanning booths – but the man’s defence lawyer argued that the Target aisle was plainly public.

Twitter’s terms of service say it is not liable for content posted to the platform and that users “may be exposed” to that which is “offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate”.

But its rules around abusive behaviour and private information specify that users “may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent”.

Earlier this week Twitter admitted it could do more to address abuse on its platform when it handed a “permanent suspension” – effectively a ban – to Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative journalist.

What is twitter doing? Standing idle while these vile acts are being committed is unacceptable.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...red-on-twitter

[Rabka Uhalla]

Anyone know what the hashtags are, for research purposes?

[Deleted]

Anyone know what the hashtags are, for research purposes?

I want to know too.

[Peroxidex]

Ah, the Joseph Smith approach to news. "I'm the only one who knows about it and won't share any proof, but let me tell you a story".

I'll await more information as that seems to be the only report on it so far.

[Dolus]

I don't agree with what they're doing. But, the law in the U.S. says that if you are in "public view" you're fair game for picture taking.

[Synadrasa]

I don't agree with what they're doing. But, the law in the U.S. says that if you are in "public view" you're fair game for picture taking.

So if an underage person who for whatever reason had a picture taken of them in an unflattering way(naked) in public by accident or otherwise that means it legal to share that picture across the entire internet? Did you take even two seconds to think about your answer before?

[Tennis]

So if an underage person who for whatever reason had a picture taken of them in an unflattering way(naked) in public by accident or otherwise that means it legal to share that picture across the entire internet? Did you take even two seconds to think about your answer before?

That's a really scumbag thing to do. Twitter needs to crack down on this.

[Greevir]

Obviously the answer would be to charge any male who takes a picture of a female for rape.

[Synadrasa]

Obviously the answer would be to charge any male who takes a picture of a female for rape.

You act like most men aren't perverts

[Synadrasa]

This is a good start, but it still leaves too many opportunities for harassment. I think we should start seriously considering requiring adult males to pass a non-creep test before they are allowed to distribute any sort of visual media via the internet. It would just be a short thing they can take when they turn 18 and register for the draft or whatever that quizzes them on the basics of how not to sexually harass someone or worse.

maybe you can write the "creep test" since you're such an expert in the subject kappa

[Beet]

That's a really scumbag thing to do. Twitter needs to crack down on this.

Totally dude! If only you were running things you could make a difference! But if you were running things at Twitter then what would we do here without your constant spam? I mean shit I depend on your twelve threads a day just to survive.

[apepi]

So if an underage person who for whatever reason had a picture taken of them in an unflattering way(naked) in public by accident or otherwise that means it legal to share that picture across the entire internet? Did you take even two seconds to think about your answer before?

Well it is illegal to phot anyone naked, but clothed people are generally fine.

[Tennis]

Anyone know what the hashtags are, for research purposes?

Wow that's sick. I imagine the authorities will handle this.

[Kalis]

How do you plan to stop this, @Tennisace?

Ban cameras.

In fact ban everything apart from Canadians and Muslims.

[the game]

We should add TSA checkpoints at beaches to check phones for covert pictures.

[jimboa24]

This is a good start, but it still leaves too many opportunities for harassment. I think we should start seriously considering requiring adult males to pass a non-creep test before they are allowed to distribute any sort of visual media via the internet. It would just be a short thing they can take when they turn 18 and register for the draft or whatever that quizzes them on the basics of how not to sexually harass someone or worse.

Why stop there? Why not round up all males and throw them all in prison as potential rapists? Train them all to avert their eyes and bow low when in the presence of a woman, and if they so much as cast their eyes on a woman or speak to one in a way that displeases her, they are immediately thrown back in prison without trial.

Because obviously all men are either rapists, or rapists waiting to happen and should be treated as such.

[Synadrasa]

Ban cameras.

In fact ban everything apart from Canadians and Muslims.

Or just take the pictures off twitter? I know hard right. They're too busy banning milo yiannopoulos for saying ghostbusters sucked.

[Kalis]

What if we cut to the chase and ban eyes?

Would make burkas more practical, so why not?

[Video Games]

That's a really scumbag thing to do. Twitter needs to crack down on this.

You should spam your qt avatar all over twitter instead.

[Greevir]

Why stop there? Why not round up all males and throw them all in prison as potential rapists? Train them all to avert their eyes and bow low when in the presence of a woman, and if they so much as cast their eyes on a woman or speak to one in a way that displeases her, they are immediately thrown back in prison without trial.

Because obviously all men are either rapists, or rapists waiting to happen and should be treated as such.

This is not that bad of an idea. Maybe toned down just a bit but close.