Joint Statement | When Will the "Purgatory of Youth" End? Amendments on Digital Sexual Violence Must Be Completed Promptly

In response to today's recurring incident involving the dissemination of a public figure's private images, the legislative progress on relevant amendments has once again drawn public attention. As the legislative negotiation for the "Quad-Act Joint Defense" draft concerning sexual privacy images is currently underway, the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation and the Judicial Reform Foundation strongly condemn the dissemination of others' sexual privacy images and present two demands to the government, calling for the joint protection of victims and looking forward to the swift completion of legislation:

Demand 1 The government must promptly pass the "Quad-Act Joint Defense" draft concerning sexual privacy images, incorporating the offense of "intimidating the dissemination of sexual privacy images" to fully protect victims

According to statistics from the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation, as many as 60% of cases involve images that were originally taken with consent or voluntarily, but later used as threats. However, during the legislative negotiations, the Ministry of Justice claimed that the existing "general intimidation offense" under the Criminal Code is sufficient for punishment. This argument has been widely criticized by legislators across party lines, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare has not expressed support for it.

Civil society organizations believe that relying solely on current laws fails to highlight the severe nature of such crimes, nor does it account for the high-risk situations where victims are constantly subjected to forced sexual relations and controlled movement. Therefore, there is a clear need to incorporate the "offense of intimidating the dissemination of sexual privacy images" into a new statutory chapter.

We hereby call upon the government to resolve the legislative deadlock promptly and pass the "Quad-Act Joint Defense" draft—including the offense of "intimidating the dissemination of sexual privacy images"—to ensure comprehensive protection for victims.

Demand 2 The amendments must improve content removal mechanisms to immediately halt the dissemination of sexual images

Observations of past cases reveal that victims of digital sexual violence frequently encounter difficulties in removing and retrieving their sexual privacy images, failing to prevent further dissemination.

Although the "Quad-Act Joint Defense" draft imposes obligations on internet platform operators to remove content and provides for "criminal protective orders," in practice it remains difficult to remove images hosted "abroad," and the criteria for "criminal protective orders" are overly restrictive—limited only to cases involving grounds for detention. This is feared to be inadequate for providing immediate and effective protection to victims.

To curb the rampant spread of digital sexual violence, we advocate that in all cases involving sexual privacy image crimes, victims should be able to apply to the court for a "criminal protective order," empowering the court to order the perpetrator to remove the uploaded images, thereby preventing legal loopholes even after the new law is enacted.

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The nine-in-one local elections are scheduled for voting and ballot counting next Saturday, November 26. The fact that a candidate's past private videos have been leaked at this very moment further highlights the urgency of amending laws concerning digital sexual violence. Civil society organizations earnestly appeal to the public: please do not become accomplices to digital sexual violence; do not download, forward, or share such content, thereby avoiding the creation and expansion of secondary trauma to the victims.