Five years after non-consensual nude photo taken, victim finds it turned into Instagram sticker sent back to her

Five years after a nude photo was taken without her consent, a woman opened Instagram to find the image had been turned into a sticker and sent back to her in a chat.

Terrified that the sticker could already be circulating widely, the victim reached out to Emilia Wong Yue-kiu, a women’s rights activist and adult content creator who advocates for bodily autonomy.

But Wong was pessimistic that reporting the case would help, noting it was just one of countless similar messages for help she had received in recent years.

“Senders of the sticker may not even know where they got it from, and have no idea who the girl is, but they sent it around nonetheless. What offence did they commit then?” she said.

Advocates say Hong Kong’s voyeurism laws have been insufficient to tackle the circulation of intimate images obtained without consent and the surreptitious online chat rooms where members post such images.

They are urging city authorities to establish faster takedown mechanisms to better protect victims.