DNaked photos disseminated massively on social networks and messaging applications without the consent of the people concerned. The phenomenon, underlined by our colleagues from 20 Minutes, has taken on a worrying scale since the confinement of spring 2020. We are talking here of hundreds of victims whose photos are shared every day via “fisha” accounts, for “poster” in verlan, to thousands of Internet users.
Faced with the scale of the phenomenon and the inaction of platforms, the Telegram messaging application in the lead, the police are not well equipped to prosecute the people behind these accounts. Near 20 Minutes, the Stop Fisha association, created by students to fight against this type of practice, testifies. She explains that, “during the first confinement, hundreds of fisha accounts were created in France”. “After Snapchat, the holders of these accounts migrated to Telegram, where moderation is almost non-existent”, specifies the association. Already more than 850 accounts have been closed and a thousand victims of cyberstalking have been supported by the association, according to 20 Minutes.
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Victims too rarely file complaints
On Telegram, some conversations of “nude hunters” bring together thousands of members, almost exclusively men. According to Stop Fisha, “the largest group listed on Telegram gathered nearly 233,000 members and broadcast almost daily intimate content of young girls, mostly minors.” In addition to reporting on platforms, activists report accounts discovered on the Pharos platform, which allows illegal content to be reported online. When it comes to Telegram, Snapchat or Instagram, efficiency comes through mass reporting. “The fisha accounts constitute a veritable network of sexual exploitation, which endangers hundreds of people every day. We must put an end to it, ”asks the collective, which publishes the manual. Fight cybersexism.
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Especially since the publication of images is sometimes accompanied by personal information and therefore a wave of cyberstalking. Even in such cases, complaints remain rare, while the dissemination of sexual content without consent is an offense that can be punished by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 60,000 euros.
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