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American YouTube star wins revenge porn case after becoming first to sue in British courts

Chambers was filmed without her knowledge by a British ex-boyfriend who later uploaded the videos to a porn website.  - Getty Images North America
Chambers was filmed without her knowledge by a British ex-boyfriend who later uploaded the videos to a porn website. - Getty Images North America

An American actress and singer is to receive revenge porn damages from her ex-boyfriend after becoming the first person to sue in the British courts.

Chrissy Chambers, a YouTube star based in Los Angeles, was filmed without her knowledge by a British ex-boyfriend who later uploaded the videos to a porn website.

Ms Chambers, who now runs a successful YouTube platform aimed at teenage girls with partner Bria Kam, had a relationship with the man, known only as DCR for legal reasons, from 2008 to 2009, counsel Alex Marzec told the High Court.

She told judge Sir David Eady that in September 2009, DCR recorded films of them having sex at her home in Atlanta, Georgia, without her knowledge.

In December 2011 and January 2012, unbeknown to Ms Chambers, DCR uploaded six films to pornographic website Redtube.com.

The titles of three of the films contained Ms Chambers's full name and two of them contained her age at the time of filming - 18.

She found out about the films the following year and immediately contacted the website to have them removed.

By then they had been online for 19 months and Ms Chambers received numerous comments and messages from YouTube users who wrongly believed she had been involved in pornography.

Ms Chambers conducted a crowd-funding campaign on the internet to bring the claim, which was settled out of court late last year.

Speaking following the case she said the episode had caused her to suffer "panic, depression, PTSD and alcoholism".

She said the settlement "should serve as a severe warning to those who seek to extort and harm with revenge porn: you cannot do this with impunity, and you will be held accountable for your actions."

Ms Chambers brought the claim for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and harassment.

As part of the settlement, which became public on Wednesday when it was read out in court, DCR accepted liability and regretted the serious distress and suffering caused.

What you need to know | Revenge porn
What you need to know | Revenge porn

He had also assigned his copyright in the films to Ms Chambers and measures had been taken to ensure the deletion and destruction of all remaining images and films of her, Ms Marzec said.

The level of damages will not be made public as part of the settlement but Ms Chambers' lawyers said they were "substantial".

Ann Olivarius, senior partner at McAllister Olivarius, the law firm which represented her, said the settlement "shows that the law has caught up to people who commit revenge porn".

Ms Chambers celebrated victory by proposing to Ms Kam on the steps of the court following her statement to reporters.

After accepting Ms Kam said her fiancee was the “bravest, most incredible human being that I’ve ever met", the Guardian reported.