Revenge Porn Laws in Delaware: What Victims Need to Know in 2026

What Delaware Law Says

Delaware enacted its revenge porn law under Title 11, Section 1335 of the Delaware Code, addressing "Violation of privacy." Distributing intimate images of another person without their consent under Section 1335(a)(9) is a Class A misdemeanor. It becomes a Class G felony when aggravating factors apply, such as dissemination for profit, to harass, with personal identifying information, by someone running a site for such images, from a stolen image, or of a minor.

A Class A misdemeanor carries up to 1 year and a fine up to $2,300. A Class G felony carries up to 2 years in prison. Delaware law also provides for civil liability under a separate statute (Title 10, Chapter 78), allowing victims to pursue damages against offenders. Delaware's law also covers deepfakes, which reflects the state's recognition of the serious harm caused by nonconsensual intimate image distribution.

The statute can be reviewed on the Delaware Legislature website.

What Counts as Revenge Porn in Delaware

Delaware's statute identifies the following elements. The content must be an image depicting a person in a state of nudity or engaged in sexual conduct. The image was created or provided in circumstances where the depicted person had a reasonable expectation of privacy. The distribution occurred without the depicted person's consent, and the offender knew or should have known that. The offender acted knowingly in distributing the image.

Delaware's law covers all forms of electronic and physical distribution. This includes posting to social media platforms like Reddit and Instagram, sharing through messaging apps, uploading to websites, and even physical distribution of printed images. The law's broad scope ensures that it reaches all common methods by which intimate images are shared without consent.

How to Report

Delaware victims of revenge porn should follow these steps:

  1. Document all evidence — Capture screenshots, save URLs, record account names, and preserve any communications with the offender or third parties who shared the images.
  2. Contact the Delaware State Police — Or your local municipal police department. Reference Title 11, Section 1335.
  3. Reach out to the Department of Justice — Delaware's Attorney General's office and the Department of Justice handle felony prosecutions and may be contacted directly.
  4. Report to the FBI — File a report with the FBI IC3 if the images were distributed via the internet or across state lines.
  5. Consult an attorney — Delaware's civil remedies allow you to pursue monetary damages and injunctive relief. An attorney specializing in privacy law can guide this process.

Limitations of Criminal Law

While Delaware's law, including its felony tier for aggravated cases, provides a strong legal framework, the criminal justice process has inherent limitations that affect victims. Investigations take time, particularly when digital forensics are involved. The offender may be difficult to identify if they used anonymous accounts or VPN services. Even when identified, prosecution can take months to reach a resolution.

During the entire legal process, the intimate images typically remain available online. A criminal conviction, while important for justice and deterrence, does not include an automated mechanism for content removal from internet platforms. Courts may order a defendant to remove images they posted, but this order has no effect on copies that have spread to other platforms, been downloaded by third parties, or cached by search engines.

Delaware's small size means cases may be handled more efficiently than in larger states, but the fundamental challenges of digital content removal remain the same. Once images are online, they can be copied and redistributed faster than any legal proceeding can address.

Removing the Content

Victims need practical content removal solutions that operate on a faster timeline than criminal prosecution.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove qualifying intimate imagery and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies within 48 hours of a valid request. The platform and request must meet the law's requirements. See FTC guidance; this is not a universal service turnaround guarantee.

StopNCII.org enables victims to create digital fingerprints of their images that participating platforms use to block matching uploads. It works only on participating platforms.

IntimaShield offers professional NCII removal services that file removal requests for the links in your case, Google and Bing de-index requests, and follow-up while the content stays up, including on uncooperative sites.

See also: New York's revenge porn law for a comparison of Mid-Atlantic state approaches.

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