When the internet allows weaponisation of intimacy

Had she seen the video, a colleague asked. She had not and when she did, she had to sit down. The 13-second clip had been shot, surreptitiously, by her then boyfriend, a year senior in college. When he went abroad for further studies, the relationship ended and he uploaded the clip. For two years, it was viewed on porn channels and social media.

- Namita Bhandare

She knew she had to file a police complaint. “I didn’t have a choice. The video ‘was on 120 porn websites. There were vulgar, body-shaming comments,” she said. Nine days after her complaint, he was arrested.

Her immediate concern was that the video should be taken down. “I am clearly visible,” she said on the phone. “I go to work knowing my colleagues and clients have seen it.” But each time it was taken down from one website, it popped up on another.

In June this year, she approached the Madras High Court. Within days, the court ordered the Union ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) to use tech nology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based content recognition tools, to block the video on all platforms. Despite this, said the woman, it continues to circulate on the dark web.