Online chat groups expose private and explicit images without consent – ​​NBC4 Washington

When you find that special someone, or someone you hope will become special soon, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment.

In the digital age, that might mean taking a sexy photo and sending it to someone you don’t really know. But as soon as you hit send, that photo may end up being seen by hundreds or even thousands of people — and your personal information may be exposed alongside your photo.

Dianna Vasquez, a woman from Maryland, trusted the wrong person and is now working hard to warn others on the dating scene so no one else ends up in her predicament.

“I really felt very violated,” Vazquez said. “[It was] a huge invasion of privacy.”

His TikTok video warning of where provocative images can end up has gone viral on social media. She made the video after finding a post offering nude photos of her and other women in online chat groups.

“In these groups, it was pretty much about photos and videos, all these explicit videos and pictures, videos and pictures, of women who were probably not consensual, like they hadn’t consented to ‘they get aired,’ says Vasquez.

She said she did not consent to her photos being shared. She also thinks she knows who posted the pictures of her and her info on social media — out of spite.

News4 found several chat groups where members, mostly men, share photos and other personal information of women they have dated.

The other members of the group can then choose who they want, like a menu.

“When I saw that, I was shocked,” Vasquez said. “Then I felt like it was dehumanizing. It felt like I wasn’t even a person. I was like an object for sale.”

Sharing information in these online groups can become even more dangerous, as chat group members may ask for phone numbers and home addresses of women whose photos are being shared. Some members pay for the information, while others offer to exchange photos of other women.

Vasquez says the thought of strangers in these online chats having her personal information is terrifying, and the lesson learned is a red flag that has put her love life on hold.

“When you date someone, you know, they know where you live,” she said. “They have your phone number, they have your social media credentials. This is the perfect candidate to put you on these sites.”

According to Detective Amanda Paris of the Fairfax County Police Department, not sharing explicit photos in the first place is the easiest way to ensure they never end up on one of those chat groups.

“You should never share private information or photos with anyone you don’t know,” she told News4. “The easiest way to avoid all of this is to not send it at all.”

But she says there are ways for women to retaliate if they find photos of themselves on a website or chat room.

“So what we would ask them to do is take a screenshot of it, to be able to capture that photo on this website. That allows us to be able to use it as evidence,” Paris said.

With the screenshot, save the URL of the website and the messages shared with it, then print them. Then contact your local police department.

In the meantime, after saving all this information on the message as evidence, you may be able to remove the photos:

• Login to app/site
• Find the image or video you want to report
• Click on the options ••• /settings/menu for the image
• Select “Report Content”
• Submit Report

You can also report the post to the website admin – sometimes they will delete the entire chat.

Dating can be dangerous, but there can be a way out of a bad situation. Consumer journalist Susan Hogan shows us how local restaurants and bars are helping to keep their customers safe.

And 48 states, including Virginia, Maryland, and DC, have laws against the nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and videos. This means you can sue anyone who posts photos or videos of you without your consent.

groups like the Cyber ​​Civil Rights Initiativefounded in 2013, have lists of laws that different US states have against what is called “revenge pornography” or “non-consensual pornography”.

This organization also provides legal information and resources to people in the United States who have previously shared photos that are now being shared without their permission. They are also related to other resources for international victims.

But it’s not easy to prove in court – so the best defense is to never send explicit photos in the first place.

As for Vasquez, her viral video drew thousands of comments from women thanking her for spotlighting the exhibit online.

“It took this viral TikTok to put us all in one place and say, ‘This is a big deal,'” she said. “Like, it’s huge and it goes so much deeper than we even think.”

Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Ambar Rodriguez, and filmed and edited by Lance Ing.