Revenge Porn Laws in Michigan: What Victims Need to Know in 2026
Michigan enacted its revenge porn law in 2016, providing a tiered penalty system that escalates based on the severity of the offense and the offender's history. If you are a victim in Michigan, this guide covers the law and your options.
What Michigan Law Says
Michigan Penal Code Section 750.145e makes it a crime to intentionally and with the intent to threaten, coerce, or intimidate disseminate any sexually explicit visual material of another person if the other person did not consent and the person knew or should have known the other person did not consent. The penalty structure is tiered. A first offense involving posting to a non-public forum is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Posting to a public forum, or a second offense, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. A third or subsequent offense, or cases causing serious injury, constitute a felony carrying up to five years in prison and fines up to $10,000. Victims can also seek civil damages under Michigan common law theories.
What Counts as Revenge Porn in Michigan
Under Michigan law, sexually explicit visual material includes any image showing a person's genitalia or the depiction of sexual acts. The material must have been disseminated without the depicted person's consent. The statute requires that the dissemination was intentional and done with the intent to threaten, coerce, or intimidate. The perpetrator must have known or should have known that the depicted person did not consent to the dissemination. The law distinguishes between posting to public forums (such as websites or social media) and non-public forums (such as private messages), with greater penalties for public dissemination. Images voluntarily made public by the depicted person, or images taken in public settings without an expectation of privacy, are not covered.
How to Report
Michigan victims should take these steps to protect themselves and build a strong case. Immediately document all instances of the images by taking screenshots that show URLs, dates, the platform where images appear, and any identifying information about the poster. File a police report with your local police department or Michigan State Police post, referencing MCL 750.145e. Contact the county Prosecuting Attorney's office to discuss criminal charges and the appropriate penalty tier. Consult with a civil attorney about pursuing damages under invasion of privacy or intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. File NCII reports through the reporting tools of any platforms where the images appear, as this can lead to faster removal independent of the criminal case.
Limitations of Criminal Law
Michigan's intent requirement, that the dissemination must be done with intent to threaten, coerce, or intimidate, is one of the narrower standards in the country. This means that someone who shares intimate images for other reasons, such as bragging or entertainment, may not meet the statutory threshold, even though the harm to the victim is the same. First-offense penalties for non-public forum sharing are relatively light at up to 93 days. Jurisdictional challenges are significant when perpetrators are in other states or content is hosted abroad. Criminal cases can take months to move through Michigan courts, and during this time, images continue to circulate. As with all states, a criminal conviction provides no mechanism for removing images from online platforms.
Removing the Content
Regardless of the criminal case, images must be actively removed from every platform where they appear. The TAKE IT DOWN Act gives victims the legal right to demand platforms remove NCII within 48 hours. StopNCII.org offers a free tool to create hashes of intimate images, allowing participating platforms to automatically detect and prevent re-uploads. For victims facing content on multiple platforms or dealing with sites that ignore takedown requests, IntimaShield provides professional removal services. IntimaShield's approach includes filing DMCA takedown notices with platforms, escalating to server hosting providers when platforms fail to act, and applying financial pressure through payment processor contacts for persistently non-compliant websites. Acting quickly on content removal while the criminal process unfolds is critical to limiting the spread and long-term impact of non-consensual intimate images.