Non-consensual sharing of an intimate image

Has someone shared or threatened to share an intimate image of you without your consent?

The Act to counter non-consensual sharing of intimate images gives you solutions.

You can apply for an “urgent order to cease or prevent the sharing of an intimate image” by filling out a simple form that will be processed urgently by a Court of Québec judge or a presiding justice of the peace.

Application form Guide

Under the Act, an intimate image is “any image, altered or not, that represents or appears to represent a person either nude or partially nude, exposing their breasts, genital organs, anal region or buttocks, or engaging in an explicit sexual activity, where the person had a reasonable expectation that their privacy would be protected, whether in the circumstances in which the image was created, taken or recorded or, where applicable, in which the image was shared.”

The image can be a photo, a video, a sound recording, or a live broadcast.

This definition includes deepfakes and images altered by artificial intelligence that appear to represent you even if the image isn’t really of you.

You can apply for an order if someone has violated your reasonable expectation of privacy in either of the following circumstances (time, place, context, etc.):

• when creating, taking, or recording the image;
• when sharing the image.

Consenting to the sharing of an intimate image in some circumstances does not mean consenting to its sharing in other circumstances.

You can also revoke your consent regarding an image you have already shared. The person to whom you communicated the revocation of your consent must make every reasonable effort to make the image inaccessible.

Under the Act, sharing means “publishing, broadcasting, distributing, transmitting, selling, communicating, making available or advertising such an image.”

For example, you sent an intimate image to your partner with the reasonable expectation that the image would remain private between you. You then discover that your partner showed the image to friends or posted it online. You can apply for an urgent order to cease or prevent the sharing of an intimate image. Likewise, if someone took a photo or a video of you without your knowledge or deepfaked an intimate image to look like you, you can also apply for such an order.

If you are 14 years of age or older and you are the person represented in the image, you can apply for an order yourself. A teenager of 14 years or older does not need to tell their parents about an application.

If you are 14 years of age or older, you can also consent to another person or a community organization applying for an order on your behalf. This could be done by a friend or relative, someone you trust, a social worker, or an assistance organization for victims, such as a Crime Victims Assistance Centre (CAVAC).

If you are under 14, your parents or tutor must apply for an order on your behalf.

If the person represented in the image is deceased, a spouse or close relative can apply for an order.

A judge may also allow another person to apply for an order, for instance, to protect the interests of a represented person who is unable to do so themselves.

To find help with this process, you can consult a list of organizations on our Assistance and Information for Victims of Crime section.

To apply for an order, you just need to fill out and sign a simple form.

You can download the form in PDF format:

• Form to be completed by the victim (PDF 196 Kb) – Guide (PDF 556 Kb)
• Form to be completed by a person other than the victim or an organization (PDF 187 Kb) – Guide (PDF 559 Kb)

or obtain a paper copy from the civil office of a courthouse in your judicial district.

You must name all the persons to whom you wish the order to apply:

• A “natural person” is an individual.
• A “legal person” can be a website, a company, or a non-profit organization.

For example, you can name an individual who posted your intimate image on the Internet as well as all the websites where you know the image is being hosted. This could get the intimate images removed faster because the order will apply to each person you named. All named individuals or websites will have an obligation to act as quickly as possible once the order is sent.

You can name a person even if you do not know their true identity, for example, if someone hides behind a pseudonym for anonymity. You just need to provide information that makes it possible to send them the order.

For example, you can provide one or several of the following pieces of information:  an email address, a username, a website URL, an IP address, the owner of an electronic device, or another unique identifier.

It is useful to provide these pieces of information, if you have them, for two reasons:

• it allows the court office to send the order to the anonymous person;
• it allows the judge to order that any information identifying the anonymous person be provided.

The form includes a statement. The person applying for an order must declare that:

• they are the person represented in the intimate image within the meaning of the Act or that they are authorized to present the application, in particular because they have the consent of that person;
• the intimate image is being shared without the consent of the person represented in the intimate image or someone is threatening to share such an image without their consent; and
• they are applying for the order provided for by the Act.

This statement is deemed to be made under oath. The person applying for an order thus confirms that, to their knowledge, this statement is true.

Once the form has been filled out and signed, you can file it:

• with the Digital Court Office of Québec;
• in person at the civil office of a courthouse in your judicial district; or
• by mail.

To file the form outside of courthouse opening hours (after 4:30 pm, on Saturday, on Sunday, or on a holiday), you must call 1-833-393-2819 and mention that you wish to submit an intimate images application.

If you have any documents supporting your application, you can submit them also. These may include screenshots of the shared images, conversations with the person threatening to share the images, or any other evidence.

Supporting documents will be handled in a manner that ensures their confidentiality.-If you file your application using the Digital Court Office of Québec, the IT system will ensure they stay confidential. If you file your application in person or by mail, you must submit your supporting documents in a sealed envelope.

If you are an adult, you must pay court costs to submit your application. If you are a teenager aged 14 to 17, you do not have to pay.

Once sent, the application for an order is decided on an urgent basis (as soon as possible) by a Court of Québec judge or a presiding justice of the peace.

Presiding justices of the peace are on duty 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

The judge may render a decision immediately based on the information on the form.

If is not necessary to send the application to the persons named on the form unless the judge so orders. These persons may learn that an application was submitted only after the judge has rendered a decision.

If the information on the form is insufficient to render a decision, the judge may:

• ask the person applying for an order for more information;
• ask that the application be sent to the persons named; or
• call a hearing with the person applying for an order or the persons named. This hearing can be held by videoconference or in the judge’s chambers instead of in a courtroom. The hearing is always held in camera; members of the public may not attend.

The judge may order any person who possesses or has control of an intimate image to:

• not share the image;
• stop any sharing of the image (for example, by removing it from the Internet);
• destroy the image (for example, by deleting all copies);
• de-index any hyperlink allowing access to the image;
• provide any information that may identify a person behind such sharing or such a threat; or
• do anything else appropriate in the circumstances.

The court office will send the order to the persons named based on the information you provided on the form. The court office will keep proof in your court file that the order was sent. The court office will send you a copy of the order at the same time.

The persons named must do everything required of them as soon as the order is sent to them. They must act right away.

You may send a copy of the order to the persons named if the court office is not able to send it based on the information you have provided or if you want to make sure that these persons  have received it. However, you are not obliged to do so, especially if you do not feel comfortable or if doing so could compromise your safety.

If you choose to send a copy of the order to the persons named, it is important to keep proof you sent it (for example, a certificate issued by a bailiff, an automated response confirming an email was delivered, or a screenshot of a private message).

You can make a police report if you notice that a person named has not done what the judge ordered them to do, such as deleting an intimate image from a website. Making a police report is the simplest way to ensure the order is enforced. It is also free.

Before you make a report, go to the civil office of a courthouse in your judicial district with the court record file number associated with your order. Ask for a copy of the “proof of notification” that the order was sent by the court office.

Then, go to a police station to make a report. Bring with you:

• your order (the police won’t have access to it otherwise);
• a copy of the proof of notification  that the order was sent by the court office;
• any other proof that the order was sent (if you chose to send a copy yourself).

The police investigate the failure to comply with the order. Then, the police  transfer the file to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, or DPCP).

A prosecuting attorney can undertake penal proceedings against anyone who didn’t do what the judge ordered them to do. Penal proceedings may lead to the following sanctions:

• a fine of $500 to $5,000 per day for an individual;
• a fine of $5,000 to $50,000 per day for a website, a company, a non-profit organization (as well as the officer, director, or representative who ordered, authorized, or consented to non-compliance with the order);
• a prison term of up to 18 months.

If the individual or the website has already been found guilty of failure to comply with a similar order, the amount of the fine may be doubled.

You also have the option to bring civil proceedings for contempt of court against anyone who has not done what the judge ordered them to do. You must file such proceedings at the civil office of a courthouse in your judicial district. There are court costs to file civil proceedings. You may also need to hire a lawyer to assist you.

Orders have no expiration date unless a judge decides otherwise.

The order is thus valid forever for all the intimate images you identified in your application. For example, if you notice that a person named in the order deleted the intimate image from where it was initially posted but then posted the same intimate image again in the same or a different location later, your order is still valid for that intimate image. You may choose to send the person named a copy of the same order as a reminder, or you can make a police report.

However, if you learn that a new intimate image is circulating that you did not identify in your application for an order—for example, a different image that you were not aware of or a new deepfake—you must apply for a new order for this new intimate image.

Each person named in an order has 30 days to contest it for either of the following reasons:

1. The person represented in the image did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy (for example, because the person who shared the image had their consent).
2. The image was shared for legitimate public information purposes (for example, as part of a journalistic investigation in keeping with journalistic norms).

The order remains in force during an application for annulment or an appeal. Each person named in the order must still do what the judge ordered them to do (for example, delete the image immediately and destroy all copies).

A person applying for annulment of the order may afterwards appeal the decision rendered, but only with permission from the Court of Appeal.

You can demand that a person who shared your intimate image, or threatened to do so, compensate you financially for the harm you have suffered. You can thus receive a sum of money, whereas fines are payable to the State.

To recover damages, you must file a civil liability claim.

The law presumes that the person who shared the intimate image or threatened to do so has committed a fault. To avoid paying you damages, they must prove that they did not commit a fault—for example, that they had your consent to share the image. You do not have to prove the opposite.

If you are seeking $15,000 or less in damages, you must file your claim with the Court of Québec’s Small Claims Division.

If you are seeking more than $15,000 in damages, you must file your claim with the Court of Québec’s Civil Division or the Superior Court of Québec depending on the amount sought.

You may need to hire a lawyer to help you with this process.

Non-consensual sharing of an intimate image is a crime.

If the person represented in the image is under 18 years of age or is presented as though they are under 18 years of age, it is also child pornography. As of October 2025, the crime of child pornography is called “child sexual abuse material” (CSAM).

In addition to applying for an “urgent order to cease or prevent the sharing of an intimate image”, which is an expedited civil procedure, you can also make a police report. The police will launch a criminal investigation.

You can also apply for financial assistance under the Indemnisation des victimes d’actes criminels (crime victim compensation — IVAC) program.

Do you need help and support?

Contact an assistance and information resource for victims of crime.

Consult the following documents about intimate image sharing (in French only):

• Napperon - Partage sans consentement d’une image intime (PDF 461 Kb)
• Napperon - Un meilleur accompagnement des personnes victimes de violence sexuelle et de violence conjugale en matière civile (incluant en matière familiale (PDF 418 Kb)
• Document destiné aux élèves
• For teachers: Le partage sans consentement d’une image intime d’un élève
• For parents : Le partage sans consentement d’une image intime de votre enfant