Extortion Hits Social Media Websites

I love writing about the role social media is playing in shaping and changing the law.  From tweeting in a courtroom to facebooking with a judge– sites such as facebook and twitter have permeated even the more traditional aspects of the legal system.

Although there are the positive aspects of the internet and social networking sites, there remain the ever-present concerns that come with the lack of accountability when users remain anonymous.

Now here’s a new twist for you… A Wisconsin teenager was recently sentenced to fifteen years in prison for a facebook fueled extortion scheme that had him tricking male classmates into sending them nude photos of themselves, then blackmailing them with exposure of the racy pictures if they didn’t have sex with him.

Posing as a girl to induce these teenagers to send him pictures, Anthony Stanci ran this scheme for a year before a sixteen year old victim told his parents about the encounter.  He was ultimately charged and convicted of possessing child pornography and soliciting sex with minors.

Facebook is not the only popular site to have extortion-related issues.  Most recently the popular online review site Yelp became a defendant in a class action lawsuit.  The claim alleges that the site attempted to extort high monthly payments from many of the businesses it reviewed in exchange for suppression of unfavorable reviews by its users.  Many of the businesses in the suit are small companies that felt that they needed to give into the payment demands in order to ensure that business would remain.

The internet is all about visibility and transparency.  I think that although people may not be caught immediately, ultimately shady business practices or sexual issues will come to light and the consequences will be just as severe as if it were committed in the “real world.”  One of the unique characteristics of the internet is that people publish their opinions on EVERYTHING and that also means that when there has been a questionable situation, it will be exposed.