SA Can I get photographer to remove provocative photos of me that he is selling online? No models realise form signed.

[Aemix]

Wanting to know what rights I have in getting sensitive images of me removed from a website where they are available for sale, and from social media where they are used to advertise the photos for sale.

When I was a bit younger and a lot more stupid, I was paid a small amount as a model to have some photos taken. I’m clothed in the photos, but they’re quite provocative and could be considered damaging to my reputation. The photos are sold on the photographers fetish-style website, and they were also used on social media pages to promote the photos for sale on the website.
A year or so after the photos were taken, I kindly asked them to be removed as I regretted being a part of the shoot. The photographer agreed to do so, and confirmed that I did not sign a release form (I couldn’t remember if I did), and I have screenshots of these messages. Today I found out they were never fully removed, a bunch of the photos are still on social media and more were uploaded today. They are also still available to buy from the website.

Aside from asking again for them to be taken down (still awaiting a response), do I have any legal leg to stand on in getting them removed from social media and website?
The photos do not promote a brand or clothing label etc., it is simply the actual provocative photos being sold for profit.

Please help and advise on further action I can take.

 

[Tim W]

You were a model, and you did a job.
Assuming that you were an adult, and
that you were genuinely consenting at the time, and
did it in the course of your work as a pro model (even if part-time or early-career)
then, release or no release, you'll be hard pressed finding anywhere to go with this.

 

[Ricardo]

What's are the jurisdictions:
• In which states of Australia were the photos taken?
• In which states of Australia was the uploading or act of distribution performed?

Child abuse material:
Are you under 18 in any of the photos?
In Australia, images of someone under 18 used for the purposes of sexual gratification are considered "Child abuse material" under commonwealth law.

Intimate images?
Is it reasonable to say that the images are used for the purposes of sexual gratification?

Depending on your answers to the above, you may or may not have some options.
Clearly, if it's child abuse material, then it's pretty straight forward to get them removed.
Next, if they are intimate images, there are laws against having these taken without consent -- but that would not be possible to pursue because clearly you gave your consent (if you were over 18). But in some states, e.g. WA, there is no such law for this, and instead you have to look at the laws governing *distribution* or defamation.
There are also laws of *distribution* of intimate images without consent. This may be possible to prove if you were under-age and therefore could not give consent. If you were over 18 and you gave consent, then this becomes a problem.

Once lawful consent is given, it may be possible to withdraw that consent (in certain circumstances) but that becomes a huge problem once distribution has already commenced, because all you need to do to circumvent that is host the images in a different jurisdiction outside Australia, perhaps a country with weak law enforcement.

There are databases that can help, where they take a "digital fingerprint" of the content, and then when a service provider encounters media that matches the content, they block / remove it.
This is used to prevent child abuse material, but also for content providers of legal content, such as PornHub etc to prevent uploading of licsned content distributed without a license.

As you can see there are complicated legal and practical aspects to consider. Even if you manage to get your content removed within Australia, it's difficult to stop distribution outside of Australia, because the horse has already bolted.