A Case Study about Adult Content Removal

Issue

Snapdragon Media was approached by a doctor working in the UK medical sector who was facing a severe online privacy breach. The client had discovered explicit videos featuring her posted online without her consent by her ex-partner. The situation was particularly distressing as the uploaded intimate videos were uploaded to various porn sites as an act of retaliation following their breakup. Within a month, the content had spread rapidly across numerous websites, leading to constant harassment and unwarranted blame directed at our client. Due to her role within the medical industry, with her mental health suffering affecting her work, she feared her job was on the line with no one to talk to.

What Actions Did Snapdragon Take

Recognising the urgency of the situation and its profound impact on the client’s personal and professional life, the legal team swiftly initiated its comprehensive content removal strategy. Within two weeks of engagement, Snapdragon Media had gathered all necessary information from the client, including a Letter of Authority, which is crucial for enabling us to act on this client’s behalf. 

Upon receipt of the information, to allow Snapdragon Media to conduct an extensive search, 100s of videos were identified across major UK and EU search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as on social media platforms like Twitter and various adult websites such as PornHub, xvideos, xhamster and so forth.
After investigation, we leveraged the UK Revenge Porn Act as the legal framework for submitting removal requests. Given the pervasive nature of the content, which had been replicated across multiple sites and pages, we committed to a long-term, diligent effort to ensure comprehensive removal.

Results

Over the course of a year, the complexity of the case required us to make over three separate requests to each search engine, addressing newly found content on different sites. This thorough and persistent approach paid off, resulting in 100s of other content being effectively blocked from appearing on all platforms indefinitely. Our efforts not only succeeded in removing hundreds of videos from major UK and European search engines but also provided crucial support to our client during an ongoing police investigation into her ex-partner’s actions.