New York’ s revenge porn statute, signed in 2019, begins to precedence in the prohibition of disseminating or threatening to disseminate intimate images without both parties consent.

OnlyFans creator @officialsophidream and her legal team recently filed a complaint against media personality DJ Akademiks, musical artist Lil Boom and public figure Big AJ after they allegedly exploited her during a Twitch interview by disseminating intimate images of her without her consent to those who were present in the studio.

To summarize the filed complaint, allegedly Sophi received a direct message from DJ Akademiks and Big AJ inviting her to New York to discuss a cross-promotion, which would possibly include an explicit video in exchange for DJ Akademiks and Lil Boom promoting her Only Fans page. However, when she arrived, the only person present was Lil Boom, who claimed that DJ Akademiks could no longer make it but that they would still promote her. Sophi acquiesced but didn’t consent to the video being disseminated. She also had her friend, Victoria, present during this interaction, who didn’t engage in any intimate acts. 

Later on, when Sophi appeared on the Fresh and Fit podcast, she denied having sex with Lil Boom. Seemingly in response to her interview, DJ Akademiks “called out” Sophi about her podcast interview by disseminating intimate images of her to those who were present in the studio. She also alleges various forms of defamation.

To share intimate images of Sophi without her consent is a violation of New York’s Revenge Porn Statute, which prohibits disseminating or threatening to disseminate intimate images without both parties consent.

Attorney Mark Anderson of the SBAGK Firm, representing his client, Sophi, says their office was contacted by a friend of hers relaying that Sophi not only had an issue of defamation but also disseminated revenge porn.

Speaking on New York’s recent Revenge Porn Statute, Anderson told FACTZ, “In New York, specifically, it’s fairly strict about what you can and cannot do. If you look up cases about this, there are just not that many. I wouldn’t say it’s an issue of first impression, but it’s particularly novel. So we took her case on, and we think she has a good case.”

Before this legislation, there weren’t any legal protections in place to stop people from disseminating intimate materials. With the widespread usage of the internet and rapid increase of digital devices, this is especially troubling because people can easily share explicit media following breakups, which can result in devastating consequences for their victims. Anderson shares his thoughts on this new statute.

“It’s great to see that [New York legislation] is actually doing something about this because as social media becomes more and more involved in everyone’s life, it seems like every possible niche of your life has a social media app attached to it,” says Anderson. “This is one of the steps that they’re taking to combat people who use social media as a bullying tactic. We think that this case is one of those instances that benefits from that.”

The preliminary statement in the complaint states that New York allows victims of revenge porn to press charges against offenders in hopes of protecting victims of sexual violence. New York City also enacted a law to protect victims of revenge porn.

Since taking on his case, other similar cases have been brought to their legal office. Anderson says that they have developed a “niche” for these lawsuits.

“There are other people that have contacted us, and it’s possible we have other cases that will be coming soon that I can’t obviously talk about yet.”

As for where the legal process is now, Anderson told FACTZ, “We filed the summons and complaint, which is the commencement of the case, and we’ve also filed a motion for default. And then what the defendant did—at least DJ Akademiks; the rest of the defendants are still in default—is they have moved to dismiss, which is a very common litigation tactic to move to dismiss saying that you haven’t met certain elements in the case. We don’t believe they will be successful.”

According to Ballotpedia, almost all of the states (with the exception of Massachusetts and South Carolina) and Washington D.C. have passed laws that prohibit the distribution or production of non-consensual pornography.

With the rising popularity of OnlyFans, a website known for sharing mature adult content through memberships, more of these cases are likely to come to light. Many people make a living by distributing exclusive content through OnlyFans, so spreading creators’ content to non-paying users could potentially affect their income and invade their privacy.

“This is their job. This is their livelihood. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they want all that stuff out there, but I can understand the appeal,” says Anderson. “For some people, it’s very lucrative. Sometimes private things are meant to remain private, and that’s what we’re arguing here.”

This is a developing story.