Facebook has banned revenge porn

Facebook is banning "revenge porn" - intimate photos or videos of an individual shared without the subject's permission.

The change comes as the social network updates its Community Guidelines explaining what is and isn't allowed on the site. Facebook has also revealed its guidelines on nudity (it's okay if it's "artistic"), and clarified that people are allowed to use their "authentic identity" on the site (there's previously been outrage after Native Americans, drag queens and others were banned because their names aren't "real").

Much of what constitutes revenge porn will have already been banned under Facebook's long-standing rules on nudity. But the change makes explicit the ban for the first time. The social network defines it as "images shared in revenge or without permissions from the people in the images."

Facebook's move to tackle revenge porn comes as part of a growing backlash against the phenomenon. Twitter recently also banned revenge porn, and social news site Reddit has also outlawed the sharing of sexual imagery without permission. Reddit's move comes after the site became ground zero for the dissemination of the hacked intimate photos of dozens of high-profile female celebrities last year. Actress Jennifer Lawrence, one of the victims of the hacking, described the sharing of the photos as a "sex crime."

Lawmakers are also moving to legislate against revenge porn around the world. Previously, victims had little recourse unless they took the photo, in which case they could claim violation of copyright. But now the UK, multiple US states, France and elsewhere have all made sharing revenge porn a specific criminal offence.