A charity has said views of its online advice for people affected by so-called revenge porn has more than doubled.
Sharing intimate images or video without consent, or threatening to do so, is illegal in Scotland under legislation that came into force in 2017.
People convicted of such an offence can face up to five years behind bars.
READ MORE: Neil Mackay: Revenge porn offenders must feel the full weight of the law
The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act makes it a crime to share intimate images or videos, send them to another person, upload them to a website, or threaten to do this, without the consent of those featured.
Citizens Advice Scotland said traffic to its online advice page on what to do if people find intimate images have been shared without their consent has doubled within the past year.
Between December 2018 and May 2019, the page had around 13,000 unique page views, jumping to more than 30,000 in the following six months.
The charity’s communities spokeswoman Gillian Fyfe said: “The past year has seen a spike in traffic to our Advice for Scotland page around intimate images being shared without people’s consent.
READ MORE: Man charged in connection with Borders revenge porn case
“The relevant law here is still fairly new so it’s important that people know and understand that sharing intimate images is a crime in Scotland.
“No matter why an image or video was taken or sent, most people don’t expect or want them being shared more widely.
“The experience can be incredibly distressing, and many won’t want to speak out, but people should know that if they have been a victim of this crime they have rights, and can report it to the police.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here