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Revenge porn is literally killing women but the laws to prevent it are useless.

Would you like to join this Facebook group?

 

These are the 'rules' for men's only group Melbourne's Men's Society (MMS). A Facebook group that was created in response to Melbourne Gal Pals.

The groups member's would post naked photos of unknown women, violent comments and revenge porn, which is the sharing of intimate photos or videos without the subject's permission.

The page was deactivated last Thursday. But it's not the only one.

The potential dangers of social media are not new. They're well known and widely touted. Social media networks like Facebook give bullies, predators, rapists, scorned ex-lovers a platform for their hate. And this is dangerous.

It's also illegal. But laws seem pretty toothless in cyber land.

Earlier this year, a group of around 200 males students at the Univeristy College Dublin were caught out sharing naked photos of women they'd slept with, and rating them out of 10, in a group chat. The same school shut down a Facebook page called "Girls I'd Shift if I was Tipsy" half way through last year.

Several Australian universities are also facing backlash from female students, in response to a number of male-only Facebook pages using the social network as a platform for 'rating hotties' and talking aggression and sexual harassment between men.

For example, the "Hotties of Melbourne University" Facebook page, which was taken down following a petition calling for its removal:

What is revenge porn?

Revenge porn is the sharing of intimate photos or videos without the subject's permission. Last year, Facebook officially defined and banned revenge porn, after hacked intimate photographs of female celebrities went viral. Other social media networks rushed to do the same.

Jennifer Lawrence, whose photos were shared in the scandal, described the act as a "sex crime".

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Other victims say the affects of revenge porn can be depressing to the point of suicide.

“They are pushing the girls to where they want to end their lives. I’ve been pushed to where I want to commit suicide because I’m getting bullied so much,” one victim told BuzzFeed.

“Nothing [provoked MMS to upload the photos]. I just woke up the next morning after my birthday with my nudes from four years ago posted everywhere.”

So what is Facebook doing about it?

Facebook has strict guidelines against the sharing of revenge porn, and images that involve nudity. The platform's Community Guidelines tackle revenge porn specifically, by explicitly banning "images shared in revenge or without permissions from the people in the images.”

This is all well and good. But complaints to the platform are handled manually, and often not fast enough to prevent the damning damage revenge porn can have on its victims. For pages such as MMS and Hotties of Melbourne University, these were taken down due to pressure for the community of victims affected – not from the platform itself.

Last month, Facebook did announce further security updates are currently in testing. These includes identity alerts, to protect against trolling, and new ways for people to report non-consensual intimate images that are posted to the site. The tool will enable subjects of the images to identify themselves as victims in the photo, which will alert the Facebook security team and also direct them to legal advice and support.

Watch now: Mamamia staff read mean tweets about themselves to raise awareness about online abuse.