Why I’m furious about the nudes leak in Ireland

What happened

Recently the shocking discovery was made that thousands of intimate images and videos of Irish women and children had been published online. These images were leaked, without consent, alongside personal details. Social media has been flooded with outraged cries from both victims and their supporters regarding the image based sexual abuse. Image based sexual abuse refers to the sharing of intimate images without consent from the victim. This is more commonly known as revenge porn.

The Victim Alliance made the discovery and the group are now aware of at least 140,000 stolen images. The group, founded by Linda Hayden, describes itself as “an organisation designed to give collective voice to anybody who has been victimised by another person or a system’’.

Hayden said the images being shared had been taken from various locations including OnlyFans, Tinder, WhatsApp, and Instagram. She went on to confirm that a large number of photos were also taken without knowledge or consent in changing rooms, or while women were sleeping. Hayden claimed “We believe that Irish women were targeted because the perpetrators know there is no law against sharing intimate images without consent. There seems to be a blind spot.” Hayden also stated that the one common theme is that victims are unaware their images are being used in this way.