• The priority channel is a way to report the illegitimate diffusion online of sensitive, sexual or violent contents, also without being the data subject;
• During last year, AEPD has translated about 50 complainants as urgent, with 29 requests of contents removal;
• Most frequent cases are brought up in front of the Agency concerned the diffusion of sexual contents registered with or without the consent of the woman who appears but shred without her consent, to the registration of aggressions to minors and persons LGTBIQ + and the publication of fake profiles on pornographic pages;
• The efficiency of the removal of contents is about the 86%;
• The diffusion of the initiative has the cooperation with the actress Ana Milan, who has published on its social media a thread in which she reflects on the power that each person has to stop this type of contents when he/she receives them or sees them published.

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has launched today the initiative “you stop it or you pass it”, a project in order to share the usage of the priority channel of the Agency in order to complain against the sharing of sexual or violent contents shared by internet without the consent of persons.

With this initiative the Agency addresses to all the persons that can receive contents of this type, even if at the beginning they have not registered them. After having received this video or a photo, each person can decide what to do: if he/she becomes a partner or if he/she wants to react in order to stop the sharing. The aim is transmit that all of us can report the sharing of this type of contents to the Agency and not only the person which initially decide to share this contents has a responsibility without the permission of the data subject who appears into the photos, but also all the become partners and that contribute to the sharing by different channels.

For creating the diffusion of #YouStopItOrYouPassIt, the Spanish Data Protection Authority wins the cooperation with Ana Milan, which has asked, on its social network, what her followers are going to do if they receive a sexual video registered without the consent of the woman that appears. The actress reflects on the importance and the power that each of us has in this particular moment in order to stop the chain: “you are the solution or you are the partner”.

The initiative “You stop it or you pass it” is part of the Digital Pact for People’s protection, a project in order to promote the personal data protection and the responsible usage of new technologies in which members, more than 200 at this moment, are committed to share the priority channel among their followers, clients and employees.

During the 2020, the AEPD has received 358 requests of withdrawal of sexual contents by the priority channel. After their analysis, about 50 of them were processed like urgent because they were part of the aims of this Channel, by asking in 29 of this cases the urgent withdrawal of the content by services providers, which was what the complainant required.

Among the most frequent cases raised in front of the Agency there is the diffusion of sexual video or photos registered with the consent of the woman but shared without her permission by pornographic pages, sexual contents registered without the consent and then shared, the registration of attacks and the humiliation of minors and LGTBIQ+ and the publication of false profiles on webpages by using real images of women and their phone number. In some cases, women affected are not conscient that this content is shared online until someone inform them about it.

The percentage of efficiency of the priority channel in the removal of this content was about the 86% after the submission of the precautionary measures to pages that host it. Generally, the withdrawal of contents takes place in 72 hours when the owner of the platform is in Spain.

From the other part, the Agency has actually 19 preliminary investigation and 3 penalty proceedings against persons in charge of having uploaded online this type of contents or of having create false profiles.

Information of the priority channel

The priority channel offers a free and fast way to report the publication online of sexual or violent contents shared without the permission of persons that appear, in particular in cases of harassment or sexual abuses against women but also violence in each type. In addition, this complainant is independent from those one that can present to Police forces and to security bodies of the State or the public prosecutor’s office.

The Agency, as an independent authority, can adopt urgent measures in order to limit the diffusion and the access to personal data.

After having analyzed the complainant /which can be presented both from the victim and from a third person), the Agency can determine the adoption of supervision measures in order to avoid the continuation of the illegitimate processing in serious cases. At the same time, the Agency also assesses the openness of a sanctioning proceeding against persons responsible of the illegitimate processing.

SOURCE: AUTORITA’ PER LA PROTEZIONE DEI DATI DELLA SPAGNA – AEPD