BANGKOK (AP) — A Telegram channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers that offered revenge porn, hidden-camera videos and other non-consensual content of Chinese women has highlighted gaps in laws protecting victims of sexual abuse in China.
The uproar over the online group comes after Chinese authorities have silenced public activism over women’s rights in recent years, even sentencing some activists to prison for promoting #MeToo.
The Telegram channel called MaskPark, which offered pornographic content in Chinese, came to national attention in recent weeks and was quickly shut down by Telegram. But activists say alternate channels have already emerged, with only some being shut down.
Now activists are calling for ways to help women whose images have been posted. They want police to go after the posters or channel administrators, or even Telegram. They also seek a targeted law to address non-consensual sexual online content, which they see as a form of sexual abuse.
China’s Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Information Office did not respond to a request for comment, and have not commented publicly on the latest demands.
A challenging path to court
Women in China whose images have been shared online without their consent face an uphill battle in pursuing justice.
The only woman who has come forward about MaskPark is known as Ms. D, according to a report from Southern Metropolis Daily, a state-backed news outlet in Guangdong province. She says she received a private message in May claiming photos and videos of her were on the channel.
There, she found images of her being intimate with a Canadian citizen who was her boyfriend at the time, said Li Ling, an activist and researcher on gender-based violence who works with a team to assist women exposed on MaskPark. The AP could not reach Ms. D or other women independently.
When Ms. D reported the case to police, she found the images had been deleted. She consulted with lawyers but found there is no law in China specifically addressing what had occurred, Li said.
“This means a lot of police officers do not know how to lodge a case,” Li said.
But there are other challenges. To file a lawsuit, even a civil one claiming damages, the alleged perpetrator’s identifying information is needed, Li said.
It is impossible to tell who posted the images. Telegram is blocked in China, which allows only apps that cooperate with the government’s censorship apparatus. Users can access Telegram via a virtual private network, which provides an encrypted connection. And Telegram doesn’t verify the identity of users. It is unclear who ran MaskPark, and the AP could not contact them.
Telegram said in a statement to the AP it “completely removed the MaskPark channels” and that moderators continue to monitor the platform “and accept user reports — so that if such groups ever resurface, they are immediately removed once more.”
Telegram was founded by Pavel Durov. Last year, French authorities arrested Durov over charges that the platform was being used for criminal activity that included drug trafficking and child sex abuse material. His case is pending.
Past cases in China and elsewhere
In China, MaskPark reminded many people of a 2020 case in South Korea, where two journalists discovered a Telegram channel where young women and girls had been blackmailed into sharing explicit videos.
The uproar over that channel, called Nth room, led to arrests and a 40-year sentence for the man behind it. The journalists had infiltrated the channel for months, gathering evidence and bringing it to police.
The Korean government then revised laws to impose stricter penalties on people who distribute non-consensual content, and to require platforms located in South Korea to police the content on their servers.
“Their framework addresses the entire chain of harm, from creation to distribution to consumption, while establishing clear platform responsibilities,” said Jiahui Duan, a fellow at University of Hong Kong’s law school.
In the United States, President Donald Trump in May signed a law with stricter penalties for people who distribute non-consensual videos, including ones generated by artificial intelligence.
Past cases in China have resulted in light punishment, without penalties for platforms.
In one case in December, a college graduate found her public photos had been used to create deepfake porn that was shared on X, according to local media. The perpetrator received 10 days of administrative detention by police under the charge of disseminating obscene materials. It did not go on their criminal record.
Questions over ‘obscene materials’
The offense of disseminating obscene materials can result in two or more years of prison time, however, if authorities deem the case to be severe enough. Cases where money is exchanged can bring three years in prison.
Activists in China seeking a new law to address cases like MaskPark say the charge of disseminating obscene materials is too broad. Police recently used the charge to prosecute women writing romantic fiction deemed to be erotic.
“This is a double standard. The truly obscene things, the covert filming, they’re not coming down on that,” said Li Maizi, a women’s rights activist who has followed those arrests.
More online groups emerge
Activist Li Ling, who’s also a researcher looking at gender-based violence, said Chinese-language channels on Telegram sharing non-consensual content continue to be found. Not all are shut down immediately.
Activists in China recently found a channel sharing photos aimed up women’s skirts. Its pinned post read, “Recently, many groups and channels are being shut down, the permanent link to find your way home,” with a website address.
The channel remained active as of last week.
“The lesson for China is clear, that this systemic problem demands systemic solutions,” said Duan, the legal scholar. “While closing legal gaps is urgent, lasting change requires coordinated technological regulation, international cooperation and comprehensive victim support.”
