A Georgia woman is suing her former partner for "in excess" of $150,000 after he allegedly posted a sex tape of the two of them on multiple social media sites without her consent, court documents show.
The plaintiff, who has not been named in the lawsuit, is claiming that Jeremy Williams, also from Georgia, participated in "wrongful and tortious conduct" by posting the video online on five occasions last October, including in monetized settings.
In recent years, there has been a rise in reports of footage and images of intimate acts being uploaded to the internet without one or more of the parties' consent—a practice which has been dubbed "revenge porn," as it is often an act of retribution by a jilted lover. It is unclear from the court filing why Williams allegedly posted the video online and "revenge" was not mentioned.
Newsweek approached Williams and the plaintiff's lawyer via email for comment on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for northern Georgia, claims that while the two were in a romantic relationship, Williams "recorded a video of the parties having explicit, sexual, penetrative intercourse," which the woman consented to being recorded but "expressly told [the] defendant that he could not publicly post the video or otherwise distribute it, and he agreed not to."
It said the woman was "identifiable" in the video, as it featured "distinguishable and recognizable features" such as a tattoo on her forearm, her hairstyle and voice. It also said that the video had not been taken in a public setting.
The lawsuit claims that Williams published the video five times in October 2022 on Twitter, adult content website OnlyFans and adult social network 4Based, which displayed intimate acts and parts of the plaintiff's body.
It further alleged that Williams monetized the video as "pornographic content" on OnlyFans and 4Based.
Court filings list one count of disclosure of intimate images, one count of disclosure of private facts and one count of defamation per se, as it argues the monetized videos portray the woman as a sex worker when she is not.
As well as damages, the lawsuit is calling for the court to place a permanent injunction on Williams to prevent him from distributing the video.
Distributing so-called revenge porn is now illegal in several European nations as well as being outlawed to varying degrees in all but two U.S. states, according to various reports.
In Georgia, posting sex tapes online without consent is considered an aggravated misdemeanor, but can be treated as a felony in the case of repeated offenses and is in that case punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of $100,000 or both.
The latest lawsuit is not the first time a former partner has been taken to court over explicit materials posted online.
In 2018, an unnamed woman successfully sued her ex-boyfriend in California for $6.4 million in damages after he uploaded intimate images she had shared with him during their relationship after it had ended.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
