Carlotta Rigotti at Kyoto University
On Thursday 23 May, Carlotta Rigotti, postdoctoral researcher at eLaw, gave a guest lecture on the regulation of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) in the European Union at Kyoto University.
During her presentation, Carlotta provided a preliminary analysis of the regulation of IBSA, which is defined as the non-consensual creating, taking or sharing of intimate images or videos, including manipulated media, and threats to distribute such material, under the newly adopted Directive on violence against women and domestic violence. Her primary focus was the criminalisation as included in Articles 5 and 7.1(c). She identified limitations such as the narrow scope, evidentiary thresholds and public disclosure requirements. She also discussed provisions for victim assistance, prosecution and prevention of IBSA, including content removal orders. Lastly, Carlotta briefly explored the potential contributions of the Digital Services Act and the AI Act, noting that while these acts lack explicit gender sensitivity or focus on IBSA, certain provisions could help combat IBSA by holding online platforms, search engines and AI developers accountable for facilitating such sexualised and gendered harm.
Following her presentation, Momo Kisuna from Kyoto University explained the current legal framework in Japan. This led to an interactive Q&A session where participants both asked questions, expanded the discussion to issues such as sexting and shared their expertise on the subject from other jurisdictions, including the regulation of deepfakes in Taiwan.
The lecture was organised by Dr Miki Kadota with support from Professor Masahiro Sogabe. More information about Kyoto University is available here.