According to legal experts who spoke to Time and the Daily News, Rob Kardashian may have violated California’s revenge-porn law by sharing a series of explicit photos of ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna on Twitter and Instagram.
Earlier today, Kardashian went on a social media rampage, tearing into his ex with allegations of infidelity, and posting a number of naked photos that purported to be of Chyna. In response, Chyna accused Kardashian of domestic violence on her Snapchat account. The photos have since been deleted, but according to the experts, Kardashian could still face consequences under California law.
“Rob has made the work of a prosecutor or a victim’s attorney quite easy so far as to even post about the very motive behind his outrageous act of posting these private and nude photos of his ex,” says attorney Carrie Goldberg, who described the images as “classic, quintessential revenge porn.”
In 2013, revenge porn — a.k.a. nonconsensual pornography — was criminalized in California, making it a criminal misdemeanor to share intimate images “under circumstances in which the persons agree or understand that the image shall remain private, the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress.”
According to attorney Lisa Bloom, Kardashian could face up to six months in jail for his actions, and Chyna could also choose to sue Kardashian for damages based on the infliction of emotional distress. “Given that he has a large social-media following, if the jury was sympathetic to her, she could recover millions,” Bloom says.
Kardashian’s extensive social-media following could also be a factor. “What’s different about this case is that the offender has 8.9 million followers and so the distribution of the images is so much more vast,” adds Goldberg. “There’s never been a case like this where the offender has such a massive audience.”
Kardashian’s claim that Chyna cheated on him is no justification for violating her sexual privacy, according to Goldberg, because “the allegation of infidelity does not give someone the right to seek revenge in such a devastating way.” Likewise, the fact that Chyna “liked” one of the photos does not qualify as giving consent for the pictures to be released, nor does it necessarily mitigate any emotional distress the pictures may have caused.
“If the photos were posted without her consent then — no — her ‘liking’ them absolutely does not diminish the fact that he violated her sexual privacy and has opened himself up to punishment in civil and/or criminal courts,” Goldberg explains. “What matters is whether he had her consent at the time he distributed them to his 9 [million] Instagram followers. His words show he did not.”