What is New York’s revenge porn law and how is it related to Hunter Biden’s lawsuit against Fox News?

Hunter Biden sued Fox News on Monday over its fictional trial miniseries, ‘The Trial of Hunter Biden’, which appeared on its streaming service Fox Nation. In his lawsuit, he is claiming that the right-wing network’s six-part mock trial violated New York’s ‘revenge porn’ law.

The miniseries about the president’s son focused on his foreign business dealings and featured sexually explicit photos and videos of Hunter without his consent. Biden alleges that Fox published the private photos and videos even though they knew that they had been hacked or stolen. Fox removed the miniseries, which first aired in October 2022, from its subscription streaming platform in April this year when Hunter’s attorneys threatened to sue.

What is New York’s revenge porn law?

The so-called ‘revenge porn’ law was passed in 2019 making New York the 46th state to have such a statute on the books. Today only South Carolina has yet to enact legislation penalizing the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images according to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.

Under New York state’s Civil Rights Law Section 52-b, Private Right of Action for Unlawful Dissemination or Publication of an Intimate Image it is a criminal and civil offense to disclose an intimate image of another person with the intent of “harassing, annoying or alarming” the victim. The law applies even in the event that “the original still or video image was consensually obtained” and the victim can pursue legal recourse even if the dissemination or publication of the intimate image is “threatened.”

Hunter Biden’s lawsuit against Fox News

The law does not apply to “the reporting of unlawful conduct.” However, Hunter has never been indicted for illegal foreign lobbying and bribery charges which are depicted in the fictional trial. Biden’s lawsuit states that “the miniseries featuring a mock trial is not accurately reporting on newsworthy events but rather, is a fictionalized trial of a nonexistent case against Mr. Biden, produced for entertainment purposes,” and that it “was not made for a legitimate public purpose.”

“While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialog intended to entertain,” the lawsuit states. Hunter also alleges that the unauthorized dissemination and publication of the intimate images has caused him “severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish, as well as irreparable injury to his personal and professional reputation.”

He claims that the emotional distress was inflicted intentionally “for unjust enrichment.” He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Fox News responded in a statement calling the lawsuit “entirely politically motivated” and that it was “devoid of merit” as the core of the complaint dates back to 2022 and Hunter didn’t take action until this year. Additionally, the network removed the miniseries “within days of the letter [from Hunter’s attorneys], in an abundance of caution.”

Promotional reels and clips remain accessible on third-party streaming platforms according to the lawsuit. The New York revenge porn law gives victims two years to pursue criminal charges and up to three years to bring a civil complaint, or one year from the discovery, whichever is later.