Camera To Spy on Women Undressing Advertised on Twitter

A post advertising a portable camera by suggesting it can be used for filming women undressing is currently a "promoted ad" on Twitter users' timelines.

Trendy Tech, a brand of Phoenix, Arizona-based online retail company Trendy Sale, marketed the discreet video recorder as being able to be used "anytime, anywhere in life" on the social media platform. Newsweek verified that as of Friday, the advertisement was still being promoted to users.

The post is accompanied by a video of the device, which displays it being used to zoom in on a woman disrobing through her window. The footage appears to be taken from a separate building, showing her removing a towel before zooming in on her buttocks.

It is unclear whether the woman in the video consented to the footage being taken. Newsweek approached Trendy Sale via email for comment on Friday.

In the U.S., it is a federal crime to take photographs or make videos of individuals' private areas without consent when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy—otherwise known as "video voyeurism."

According to Cornell Law School, section 1801 of Title 18 defines a private area as genitals, pubic regions, buttocks and breasts—either naked or clothed in underwear alone. A place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy is where they would believe that they "could disrobe in privacy, without being concerned that an image of a private area…was being captured."

Video voyeurism is punishable by fine, imprisonment of up to a year, or both. In 2011, Lance E. Rothenberg, an attorney in New Jersey, wrote in the American University Law Review that video voyeurism was "a very invasive and intimidating crime."

Twitter describes promoted ads as "ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or spark engagement from their existing followers."

The platform's ad policy states that companies must create advertising "safely and respectfully" while "following all applicable laws and regulations."

It says that adverts are subject to an approval process, in which they "can be reviewed prior to running," though it is not clear whether Trendy Tech's promoted post was vetted beforehand.

The ad policy also prohibits inappropriate material, which it defines as including "distasteful content" and "demeaning or exploitative content."

When Newsweek contacted Twitter via email on Friday with a detailed request for comment, it replied with a poo emoji and has yet to offer a further response.

While Trendy Sale does not explicitly market the device as a spy camera on its website, it comes with a clip that is displayed being used to attach the camera to clothing and one review on the website refers to it as a spy camera.

The video post shows the camera in a series of surreptitious scenarios, including blending in with lighters on a park bench, clipped into a lapel pocket and hidden behind a jacket, and rested on a tree branch.

A caption notes that it can be used "as a surveillance camera at home" and is "not easy to be found."