Thousands of men in China have shared intimate photos and videos of their girlfriends or wives without consent on the messaging app Telegram, sparking widespread calls for increased protection for women.
The wave of reactions began after a Chinese university expelled a student in mid-July for “offending national dignity” following an incident where a Ukrainian e-sports player shared videos on Telegram showing intimate relations.
A similar incident occurred on Thursday when a Chinese woman discovered that photos of her, taken without her knowledge, had been shared on a forum within the same messaging app, which reportedly has over 100,000 users, mostly Chinese men, according to the state media outlet Southern Daily. Pornography is illegal in China.
“We are not ‘content’ to be downloaded, viewed, and fantasised at random,” stated a comment on the social media platform RedNote. “We can no longer remain silent. Because the next victim could be me or it could be you.”
