Major technology companies on Wednesday suggested a number of best practices for removing or addressing so-called revenge porn on their platforms.
The policies were announced as part of a broader push by California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris to highlight online abuse when a person’s nude or intimate images are posted on the Web without consent.
The tech companies noted that there are limits to what they can do and specifically pointed out it would be infeasible to pre-approve or even “proactively monitor” potential instances of abuse.
But they suggested strong terms of service that generally bar the practice and recommended a removal process of about two days that includes verification before images are blocked or removed.
“Each company will need to implement practices to deal with this behavior that reflect the powers and limitations of the particular technology,” according to the document, which points out it should not be read as “industry standards or best practices for legal purposes or otherwise.”
According to the document, it is meant to express the companies’ “abhorrence with this abuse of technology and suggestions as to methods for combatting it.”
A Technology and Leadership subcommittee formed by the California attorney general created the three-page list of suggestions. Companies on the subcommittee included Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, Tumblr and Yahoo.
The document is part of a new website created by Harris’s office, which acts as a resource hub for victims and law enforcement.
