The figure is shocking: more than 70,000 Portuguese men are part of groups that share intimate and non-consensual content on the Telegram network. The existence of these spaces was revealed in August by the digital magazine Slow and caused unrest in the country, which has around 10 million inhabitants. Despite the impact of this news, those responsible have not been identified.
Organized by subthemes – “naked”, “fat”, “pregnant”, “trans”… – thousands of Portuguese people gather on Telegram to watch or share erotic or sexual photographs shared without consent. In these groups, all types of content are shared: from photographs taken of women in the street, to screenshots of Instagram pages or even intimate photographs taken by the couple at home. There are also nude photos or clips of sexual intercourse and a large amount of pornographic material known as “revenge porn”: photos or videos that may even have been taken with the consent of the partner, but which have been disseminated without consent, often after the relationship has ended.
As soon as a photo is published, dozens of comments from men follow: they ask to describe sexual acts in detail or get more information about this particular woman. According to the Portuguese press, the group’s leaders are constantly asking for new content to be sent, because everyone is there “looking for the same thing.”
In Portugal, prison sentences of up to five years are provided for those who share content, but these men hide behind fake profiles and disposable phone numbers, which are difficult to identify.
One of the most active subjects, describes the Portuguese newspaper Publicis the category voyeurwhich essentially serves to share photos of women taken in the street in positions that could be perceived as sexualized – women squatting for example – or photos taken in a high skirt. But there are also photographs taken in family privacy, or even of pregnant women.
In Portugal, prison sentences of up to five years are available for those who share content, but these men hide behind fake profiles and disposable phone numbers, which are difficult to identify. Many victims are also victims without knowing it, which makes legal action against criminals difficult.
Since 2021, the association don’t share tries to warn about this phenomenon, but once the photos are uploaded, it is difficult to track them and delete them completely. The face of this association is Inês Marinho, a 25-year-old young woman who in 2019 saw how an intimate video of her was shared on Telegram, Twitter and Reddit. Despite complaints to the authorities, the case ended up being archived, but she did not give up giving visibility to the victims and creating a support network.
The main difficulty was that it was difficult to identify the owners of Telegram accounts. “Even if the channels are deleted, others immediately appear in their place,” admits Inês Marinho to the magazine Slow. The association’s page shares support content for other women (and also men) who have experienced unauthorized disclosure of intimate content. Marinho admits that “not a week goes by without a complaint or a request for help.”
Several people who found themselves with their images posted in these groups claim to have been approached by strangers on social media. These are men who try to establish contact with victims, either to try to establish some kind of relationship, or to psychologically blackmail them in exchange for money: either the victims pay, or the scammers provide that they will share the images with their families.
Portuguese MPs approved in October the creation of victim protection networks and prevention campaigns in schools, but Telegram groups remain active
Portuguese authorities are asking that cases be reported to the police and that no payments be made, as fraudsters try to extract as much income as possible from victims they believe are financially capable.
Aware of the situation of these victims, Portuguese MPs approved in October proposals aimed at creating protection networks for victims, improving the authorities’ response to these cases and creating prevention campaigns from schools. The results will be analyzed in the future, but Telegram groups are still active.
