Hong KongCrimes Ordinance, sections 159AAD and 159AAE, publishing or threatening to publish intimate images without consent
Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), ss. 159AA, 159AAD-159AAE, 159AAG
In force since .
A specific illegal content rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not publish an intimate image of an individual without that individual's consent, intending the publication to cause humiliation, alarm or distress, or knowing or being reckless as to whether it will or is likely to (s. 159AAE(1)).
- Do not make a threat to publish an intimate image of an individual without that individual's consent (s. 159AAE(2)).
- Treat an image altered to appear to show an intimate part of the individual, or the individual doing an intimate act, as an intimate image, unless it is so altered that no reasonable person would believe that it shows one (s. 159AA(1)).
- Making available a hyperlink, or a location on an electronic platform, that gives access to the image counts as publishing it (s. 159AA(4), (5)).
- Do not publish an image that you know, or are reckless as to whether, originates from voyeurism or from unlawful recording of intimate parts, disregarding whether the individual consents (s. 159AAD(1)).
- Consent from an individual under 16 or a mentally incapacitated person does not prevent the conduct from being an offence (s. 159AAG).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
An offence under section 159AAE(1) or (2) is punishable on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for 5 years; the section states no fine (s. 159AAE(5)).
What this law does
Section 159AAE of the Crimes Ordinance makes it an offence to publish an intimate image of an individual, intending the publication to cause humiliation, alarm or distress or knowing or being reckless as to whether it will or is likely to, where no consent is given and the person disregards whether the individual consents.
It is also an offence to make a threat to publish an intimate image of an individual, with the same intent, knowledge or recklessness, where no consent is given and the person disregards whether the individual consents.
An intimate image includes an image that has been altered to appear to show an intimate part of the individual, or the individual doing an intimate act, regardless of whether any intimate part shown is in fact that of the individual, but not an image so altered that no reasonable person would believe that it shows one.
A person publishes an image by distributing, circulating, making available, sending, selling, hiring, giving or lending it to another person or by showing it, and this includes making available any hyperlink, or location on an electronic platform, that gives access to the image.
Section 159AAD makes it an offence to publish an image that originates from the commission of voyeurism or of unlawful recording of intimate parts, knowing or being reckless as to that origin and disregarding whether the individual consents. A subject individual under the age of 16, or a mentally incapacitated person, cannot give a consent that prevents the conduct from being an offence.
An offence under section 159AAE(1) or (2) is punishable on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for 5 years. An offence under section 159AAD(1) carries the same maximum of imprisonment for 5 years on conviction on indictment. It is a defence to establish lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
Where the individual is under 16 or mentally incapacitated, it is also a defence for the person to prove that the person genuinely believed the individual had consented and did not know and had no reason to suspect the individual’s age or incapacity. The Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (35 of 2021) came into operation on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform or publishes adult content.