Reality star Georgia Harrison has compared the leaking of a revenge porn video of herself with Stephen Bear to a “house fire” because of the speed at which it spread.
Former Celebrity Big Brother winner Bear walked out of prison in January, having served 10-and-a-half months of his 21-month sentence for sharing a film of him having sex with Harrison on his OnlyFans site.
Harrison told MPs on the UK Women and Equalities Committee the video “went viral to a point I can’t explain” as it spread round multiple porn sites and was circulated on WhatsApp.
She added: “It absolutely horrified me that an individual had done this to me but what most horrified me was that these platforms were hosting these videos that were unconsented.
“For many that I tried to reach out to, I got an automated response saying we will get back to you within four to six days.
“When something like this is happening, it really is like a house fire and the quicker you can put it out, the quicker you can stop it.
“Unfortunately, in four to six days your house has burnt down, everyone knows about this video – your family, your workplace, your peers, it’s too late.”
Bear was jailed in March last year after being found guilty of voyeurism and of two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
He has been ordered to pay back the £22,305 he made from sharing the video.
Discussing her ordeal, Harrison told MPs: “I feel like one of the biggest challenges in general is these big social media companies who are hosting pornographic images and videos, they don’t have any way of us getting through to them to report it when there is something unconsented there.
“It shouldn’t be robots that you get through to when it’s this important a situation, it shouldn’t be that hard to get through to someone.
“I’m not saying delete it, I’m not saying take this person’s account down, I’m just saying can we pause it and then review it in a few weeks and I think that is the biggest issue we are dealing with at the moment.
“Then, they could go back and review it and if whoever is in it hasn’t consented, it will never go back up, but if after review both people have consented the footage is still there to get put back on the platform.
“But I think if something gets to to the level where you say this is me in a sexually explicit act and I have not given permission, it should be paused that day, not in four to six days.”
Asked if she considered giving up on the legal process, she said: “I knew that I couldn’t speak through that timeline until I got to the court process and I thought, shall I just give up so I can speak my truth to the public.
“But I knew what I was doing I had to push on with no matter what.”
Discussing waiving her anonymity, she said: “I really do feel my anonymity was removed as soon as the video went up anyway, because everyone I knew friendship wise, colleague–wise, family wise, which is your main concern when something like this happens, were already aware of the video.
“So I felt like my anonymity didn’t really exist.
“I felt I had been at such an injustice not just by the man that had done it to me, but by the platforms that used me to make money on their behalf, they literally used this unconsented money to make money off me, and I felt it was something I didn’t ever want to happen in the future.”
Harrison also said her revenge porn ordeal has given her “a lot of fear” at the prospect of starting a family.
She said: “I know whenever I’m dating, meeting new people going into any sort of a new work opportunity I am known as the person who has this sex tape which I never ever filmed and never consented to be out there.
“So it changed a lot for me and it definitely gives me a lot of fear for one day, if I do have a family, which is something that was always my intention, are my children going to be able to stumble across this footage?
“Because I’m not protected in the right way by the Government for that not to be an issue right now.”
