MPs Hope To Make Revenge Porn Illegal

A group of MPs from Bright Future have again submitted a bill that would, if passed, make revenge porn punishable by up to two years in prison.

RÚV reports that the bill was submitted during the last parliamentary session but, like many other bills, did not complete its process before the session ended for the summer. The bill would, apart from the two year maximum sentence, make both distributing and receiving revenge porn illegal.

Cases of revenge porn has been making headlines in Iceland recently, as an increasing number of women seek help from the police and from rape crisis prevention centre Stígamót over revenge porn distribution or the threat thereof.

The bill cites a story from earlier this year, in which police had been receiving numerous complaints about a website where men were exchanging nude photos of Icelandic girls, some as young as 12. From this website, the photos have spread elsewhere on the internet.

Even in instances where a survivor knows who is distributing revenge porn of them, there is little recourse. The new bill, if passed into law, would classify spreading revenge porn not just as harassment but a sex crime as well.