The Pamela Anderson Exception: How the Public Figure Doctrine Makes Involuntary Pornography a Subject of Public Concern in Congress’s Revenge Porn Statute

Authors

Jared Kossover, Vanderbilt University Law School

First Page

991

Abstract

Congress’s chosen remedy for the proliferation of online revenge porn has a design flaw. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, codified in 15 U.S.C. § 6851, provides a civil right, enforceable in federal court, to victims of nonconsensual pornography. However, exceptions for matters within the “public concern,” written into the statute with the First Amendment in mind, weaken the force of the Act and threaten to make its proscriptions a nullity. This Note calls on Congress to narrow the public concern exception in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act to include only matters of political significance. Such an amendment will honor the First Amendment’s guaranty of free speech and ensure that evolving notions of newsworthiness do not work to burden those seeking relief under the Act.

Recommended Citation

Jared Kossover, The Pamela Anderson Exception: How the Public Figure Doctrine Makes Involuntary Pornography a Subject of Public Concern in Congress’s Revenge Porn Statute, 78 Vanderbilt Law Review 991 (2025)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol78/iss3/5