Criminal Lawyers in Sexting & Image Sharing Defense

The crime of non-consensual dissemination of intimate images, popularly known as sexting or revenge porn, is regulated in Art. 197.7 of the Spanish Criminal Code and forms part of the privacy crime family. The protected legal interest is personal privacy recognised in Art. 18 of the Spanish Constitution, in its dimension of control over one's own image and, particularly, over the most sensitive information: that obtained in a domestic or private environment under reasonable expectation of confidentiality. Constitutional Court doctrine and Supreme Court case-law have consolidated that criminal protection operates when three elements concur: image or recording of intimate character, originally obtained with the affected person's consent in a reserved environment and subsequently disseminated or transferred without authorisation, with serious harm to privacy.

Modalities (Art. 197.7 CP)

The precept distinguishes various modalities in the spectrum of typifiable conducts. The basic modality punishes the dissemination, revelation or transfer to third parties of images or audiovisual recordings obtained with the victim's consent in a home or place out of reach of third parties, when disclosure seriously harms personal privacy. The aggravated modality operates when the facts are committed by the spouse or person united by analogous affective relationship, the typical revenge porn scenario after a contentious breakup, or when the victim is a minor or a person with disability needing special protection, or when the facts are carried out with profit motive or affect especially sensitive personal data. The dissemination chain is fully punished: both the author of the first publication and successive forwarders can incur liability, especially after the Supreme Court's jurisprudential consolidation which cleared initial doubts about the punishability of the second recipient.

Penalties and Civil Liability

The penalties are severe and reflect the gravity of the reputational damage caused by digital virality. The basic modality of Art. 197.7 CP is punished with three months to one year's prison or fine of six to twelve months. When the aggravator of affective relationship concurs (spouse, partner or ex-partner), penalties are imposed in their upper half, easily reaching the maximum of one year. If the victim is a minor or vulnerable person, or if facts are committed with profit motive or affect especially sensitive personal data, the penalty also rises. Ex delicto civil liability is particularly significant in these proceedings: recent lower case-law has consolidated compensations between five thousand and fifty thousand euros for moral damage, depending on virality, content durability on the network and accredited psychological sequelae. When the victim is a minor at the moment of recording, the applicable type is not Art. 197.7 CP but the crimes of child pornography of Arts. 189 and following CP, with penalties that can reach five to nine years' prison, constituting one of the most serious classifications in our system.

Defence Strategy

Technical defence in these proceedings requires combining criminal law, digital law and procedural psychology knowledge. The first axis is the challenge to serious privacy harm: the type requires that dissemination cause significant damage to the victim's reserved sphere; when images are already public, fragments are unidentifiable or content where the victim previously consented to dissemination, typicality may be excluded. The second axis is challenging material authorship: computer expert evidence can prove that the defendant's device was victim of hacking, account impersonation or installation of spy applications by third parties acting as real authors. The third axis is the absence of intent: inadvertent file sending, forwarding without knowledge of the intimate nature of the content or error about the identity of the represented person can exclude the subjective element. The fourth axis is the express or tacit consent: in cases where the victim previously authorised dissemination or where the context (open relationship, previous consented exhibitionism) generates a reasonable expectation of non-confidentiality, the conduct may be atypical. Alongside criminal defence, the firm processes urgent steps before the Priority Channel of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) and before digital platforms to stop dissemination and reduce damage.

Current Forensic Practice

In current forensic practice we observe very notable growth in proceedings for non-consensual dissemination of intimate images, linked to massive use of instant messaging and generalisation of social networks. Revenge porn cases after sentimental breakups are the most frequent, followed by virality in closed Telegram groups, dissemination in forums, uploading to adult portals and, in recent years, pornographic deepfakes generated with artificial intelligence. Organic Law 10/2022 of Integral Guarantee of Sexual Freedom reinforced protection against these conducts and consolidated coordination between Courts of Violence against Women and common Investigating Courts. The Computer Crime Specialist Prosecutor's Office has issued instructions prioritising these proceedings and accelerating urgent removal measures. At Alonso Sala we combine 15+ years of experience in criminal defence with the collaboration of forensic computer experts and digital reputation specialists to articulate strategies tailored to each case, both in defence of the accused and in representation of the victim pursuing content removal and compensation for moral damage.