The Minnesota Supreme Court has reversed a lower court and upheld the state’s so-called “revenge porn” law, which makes it a crime to share nude images of a person without their consent. Michael Casillas was convicted in 2017 for sending a video of his ex-girlfriend having sex with another man to 44 people and posting it online. The Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned Casillas’ conviction, ruling the 2016 state law uses an overly-broad definition of obscenity and doesn’t require proof that the accused intended to harm the victim.
But the high court disagreed, saying although “The constitutional right to free speech stands as a bedrock for our democracy… nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images… presents a grave threat to everyday Minnesotans whose lives are affected by the single click of a button.”