Law / Canada / New Brunswick
Intimate Images Unlawful Distribution Act, court orders to remove or de-index an intimate image
Intimate Images Unlawful Distribution Act, S.N.B. 2022, c. 1, ss. 1, 5(2)(c), 6(2)(c)
In force since .
A notice and action rule binding public and private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Obligation class
- Governance
As of .
What it requires
- If a New Brunswick court orders you, as an Internet intermediary (an entity that hosts or indexes third party content through an online platform for a commercial purpose), to remove or de-index an intimate image, make every reasonable effort to remove or de-index it.
- Treat an altered intimate image the same as an unaltered one when you act on such an order, since the Act's term intimate image covers a visual recording whether or not it has been altered in any way.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What this law does
On an application for relief from the unlawful distribution of an intimate image, the court may order an Internet intermediary or any other person to make every reasonable effort to remove or de-index the intimate image. In an action claiming relief, the court may likewise order an Internet intermediary or any other person to make every reasonable effort to remove or de-index the intimate image.
The court may also order the respondent to make every reasonable effort to make the intimate image unavailable to others, including by having it removed from any platform operated by an Internet intermediary and de-indexed from any search engine. An Internet intermediary is an entity that hosts or indexes third party content through an online platform for a commercial purpose.
An intimate image is a visual recording of a person, whether or not the person is identifiable and whether or not the image has been altered in any way, in which the person is or is depicted as engaging in a sexual act, nude or nearly nude, or exposing their genital organs, anal region, or breasts. A person who distributes or threatens to distribute an intimate image in relation to which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy commits a tort that is actionable without proof of damage.
The Act received Royal Assent on . The date of the assent is the date of the commencement of an Act if no other commencement is provided in it.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform, reuses other publishers' content or publishes adult content.