News
The Sunday Times intervenes to remove 9,605 cloud-based explicit images of Lankan women
View(s):By Tharushi Weerasinghe
On Wednesday, the Sunday Times received from a source a cloud storage link that contained thousands of explicit images illicitly obtained and shared without consent.
The storage link had 9,605 files in 500 folders, adding up to 10 GB of data. Photos were separated into folders with the alleged name of the girl or woman in the image and, in some cases, their Instagram handle.
The storage was created on Mega Cloud Services Ltd (MEGA), a Cloud Storage Provider (CSP) based in New Zealand. It is owned by Cloud Tech Services Ltd in Hong Kong.
“This was a link that was circulated among many schoolchildren in Colombo about 8 years ago, and these photos now name their subjects, with additional photos of women and girls engaged in intimate acts being clearly identifiable,” claimed the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
Some photos were circulated as far back as eight years ago, when the victims were just 15.
Usually, storage links of this kind go around unabated as creators and contributors of revenge-porn rings exploit the anonymity of unregulated digital spaces that have devastating impacts on the lives and livelihoods of the victims.
MEGA, however, said it had a public policy and reporting email for abuse, which the Sunday Times used to report the link and request a comment on its measures against hosting illegal intimate images.
Within 20 minutes, the company responded and deleted all the data from the storage, including the account of the user who created the original link on the service provider’s platform.
Anyone clicking the link sees this notice and a “Get Support” option offering confidential, anonymous help for those struggling with sexual thoughts about children.
The reply email from MEGA also read that the company would assist any police investigation into the matter if authorities contacted it.
“MEGA does not condone, authorise, support or facilitate the storage or sharing of Child Exploitation Material (CEM), also known as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or other objectionable material as defined in section 3 of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 or other internet-harming material. MEGA will take down or disable access to such material, close the user’s account and provide account details and other data to the appropriate authorities as it sees fit.”
The Sri Lanka Police Bureau for the Investigation of Abuse of Children and Women has since taken the complaint forward and reached out to MEGA to obtain identification details of the original creator of the link and possible contributors to the storage.
“We shut a similar link with 4 GB of data down a few months ago,” noted Deputy Inspector General Renuka Jayasundara, who runs the Bureau. Significant improvements have been introduced to the police system of Sri Lanka, including the introduction of women and children bureaus to every police station across the country.
“Our hotline 109 is also available around the clock, and so is our email cwb.online@police.gov to provide support in this area.”
She noted that Meta, which owns Facebook, also now works with the Sri Lankan Police on cybercrime investigations involving its apps. “We are also in discussions with them to start online safety training in schools so that we can teach children how to be safe online.”
DIG Jayasundara noted that Police systems were now more open and that most women’s bureaus have been set up in private specialised areas within the police compound to ensure the comfort and safety of those coming in to report a crime.
“When a complaint is made to us, we will contact the area police, because we prioritise the most immediate access available to the complainant. Its specialist unit will reach out to the person in question and begin the investigation.
DIG Jayasundara told the Sunday Times that instances of intimate image abuse are regulated under Section 286A of the Penal Code, which deals with child pornography when the subject of images is under the age of 16, and the Obscene Publications Act in others.
Also applied is Section 345 of the Penal Code on sexual harassment. “Though it typically requires bodily harm, police now involve junior medical officers to assess mental distress from image abuse, which supports the case,” said Hans Billimoria of the Grassrooted Trust.
Mr. Billimoria praised recent police progress, including Interpol-led training for the Women and Children’s Bureau and Cybercrime Unit. However, he advised victims to visit the local police with a lawyer, as sensitivity varies across divisions due to differing officer attitudes.
A Standard Operating Procedure on policing cyber violence was started with support from Women in Need and the Norwegian Embassy. The project was piloted in 2020 in police divisions in Ibbagamuwa, with the participation of the Child Protection Force. “The procedure dealt with attitudinal change for personnel at the police desks but was not implemented as it should have been due to COVID.”
The Grassrooted Trust receives 3–4 complaints a week, but how many become actual police reports is uncertain.
He stressed that preventative education is crucial to tackling intimate image abuse, especially with the rise of homemade and AI-generated porn in Sri Lanka. As AI becomes more accessible, Mr. Billimoria warned, targeted abuse is likely to increase.
“The porn industry is burgeoning, and local illicit content is being exploited with even less oversight and regulation, so we need fact-based conversations in classrooms to teach our children how to navigate this.”
Mr. Billimoria stressed that sex education, consent lessons, and soft skills that build self-esteem are key to helping individuals say “No”.
“The oldest trick we still see is ‘you’ll do this if you love me,’ and we must teach that it’s okay to refuse,” he said. He added that while research supports long-term social-emotional learning, repeated efforts to implement it have been blocked by state bureaucracy over decades.
Globally, systems are improving as companies and NGOs respond more proactively to sexual cybercrimes. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) defines tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) as violence committed, aided, or amplified through digital technologies against someone based on gender.
While many international websites and platforms promptly remove illegal, non-consensual pornography following complaints, local sites and cloud storage-style distributors often do not. In such cases, international storage platforms usually offer swift abuse reporting options for those hesitant to involve the police.
The term image-based abuse refers to the use of imagery, often sexual, to objectify, exploit, humiliate, or harass and often includes non-consensual sharing of intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material (showing minors in sexually explicit situations).
*If you or someone you know is experiencing this, call the Women and Children’s Bureau Hotline 109 or email them at cwb.online@police.gov.
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