Outrage in China as online groups allegedly circulate women's private photos

Outrage Rises Over Non-Consensual Sharing of Women’s Images in Online Groups

Public anger has intensified on Chinese social media following reports of online groups, allegedly involving hundreds of thousands of men, where images of women—some explicit—were shared without their consent.

A recent report by *Southern Metropolis Daily* exposed a Telegram group named “MaskPark tree hole forum,” which reportedly had over 100,000 members, all Chinese men. The group allegedly circulated explicit photos of women, often taken covertly in private settings or using hidden cameras disguised as everyday objects like plug sockets or shoes.

This incident has drawn comparisons to South Korea’s “Nth Room” case, where women were coerced into sharing explicit images with Telegram group members. Although Telegram is blocked in China, users bypass restrictions with virtual private networks (VPNs).

By Thursday, hashtags linked to the scandal had accumulated more than 11 million views on Weibo. However, discussion appears to be under scrutiny, with some search results hidden under the message: “According to relevant regulations, this content cannot be shown.” Earlier reports indicated related hashtags had surpassed 270 million views.

“A woman’s life is not a man’s fantasy,” wrote one user on Xiaohongshu, a platform similar to Instagram. Another user on the app, popular among women, commented, “This is terrifying. If the MaskPark case isn’t handled properly, I’ll never marry or have children.”

In the South Korean case, the group’s leader was sentenced to 40 years in prison. In China, secretly photographing someone carries a penalty of up to ten days’ detention and a 500-yuan fine. Distributing explicit material can result in a two-year prison sentence.

This is not the first such incident in China. Last year, a Beijing tech executive was found to have secretly recorded more than 10,000 videos of female employees in restrooms. He was detained for ten days, prompting criticism. “Ten days is barely a punishment,” a Weibo user remarked.

Lao Dongyan, a criminal law professor at Tsinghua University, noted on Weibo that Chinese law treats the spread of such material as an obscenity offense rather than a violation of women’s rights, stating, “The victims are the women filmed, yet reducing them to ‘obscene materials’ is absurd.”

Debates on gender equality and women’s rights continue to face growing challenges in China.