Gamified abuse: How a PH forum rewards submissions of non-consensual intimate content

Content Warning The following story contains descriptions and discussions of sexual violence, image-based abuse, and the non-consensual sharing and explicit sexualization of women. Reader discretion is advised. Second of two parts Shortly after discovering that intimate videos of her had been uploaded online, Mishy kept returning to a question. "I am hurt by the fact that they took something so private, deeply private, to gain attention or to make money," she said. "Why would someone share something that was never theirs in the first place?" It's because there is something to gain. For the operators of NSFWPH, it is traffic. The forum, which now boasts more than 430,000 registered members, has evolved into far more than a repository of intimate images and videos. It is a structured online community where users are rewarded for posting content, climbing membership ranks through participation, and, in some cases, monetizing the very intimate images they upload. Rewarding exploitation Unlike a conventional pornographic website, NSFWPH is an internet forum. Members create threads. They comment. They react to posts. They earn points. And every interaction contributes toward a merit system that unlocks additional privileges. Users who accumulate enough points are promoted through ranks such as "Established Member," "Elite," "Contributor," and eventually "Legendary," the forum's highest status. Higher-ranked members may gain access to locked content, including additional information attached to posts such as the names of victims or links to their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Participation and contribution are rewarded. On NSFWPH, however, those incentives revolve around something more concerning: the non-consensual sharing of intimate content. By its structure, the system has the effect of encouraging members to find material worth posting, whether by obtaining videos from former partners, redistributing Telegram content, or manipulating women into sending intimate images. The more active a member becomes, the more they stand to gain within the community. It is a structure that transforms participation into exploitation. “A person can consent to documentation, but not for posting.” — Dana Batnag, data privacy lawyer From internet points to real money The rewards do not end with forum status. Rappler identified one of the platform's most prolific contributors: a user known as Mikey Kun. Kun holds the rank of "Legendary," the highest attainable status in the forum. He has amassed 4,902 posts — the third-highest post count on the site. Included among those uploads are sexually explicit videos of Filipina women, ranging from livestreamers on livestreaming platform BIGO to content described as "leaks" and "scandals." Majority of Kun's posts use a service called shrinkme.io for monetization. To download one of Kun's videos, a user clicks on a shrinkme.io link associated with a specific post. The user is then redirected to a series of pop-up ads before they eventually reach the actual download link. For every 1,000 users that click the link, Kun is given a payout. Shrinkme.io's official payout rates vary by country. In the Philippines, the rate is US$4 per 1,000 views. In our scan, Kun had more than 200 posts with corresponding shrinkme.io links just in July and August 2026. In our random sampling of these posts, the majority reach at least 1,000 views on the forum, with one post reaching at least 12,000, while a few reach only 600 or 700 views. Theoretically, if 100 of those 200 posts reach at least 1,000 clicks on shrinkme.io links, that would mean Kun earned $400 or roughly P24,000 (at $1 = P60). What this illustrates is that content is not simply exchanged; it also generates income for some, in this case, Mikey Kun. “Why would someone share something that was never theirs in the first place?” — Mishy Beyond that, Kun also redirects audiences outside NSFWPH. Under the same identity, he maintains Facebook pages and Discord communities where followers are directed toward additional content. In one Facebook post, he reminded users he had referred to NSFWPH to follow the forum's rules because violations could affect his own account. In another, he told followers he would focus less on updating NSFWPH and instead devote more attention to his Discord server, The Nowhere. His two Discord servers — Mikey's Vault and The Nowhere — collectively host nearly 6,000 members. One advertises a VIP-only section offering "Exclusive" and "SHS" (senior high school) sets to paying members. His Facebook page has 4,400 followers. Access costs P500, according to a post by Mikeykun on his Discord channel called Mikey's Vault, payable through GCash. In return, members receive download links to additional content. The result is a multi-layered monetization model. Users gain prestige in the forum. They earn advertising revenue through download links and also by selling access to the seller's collections directly on other channels. The forum profits too The NSFWPH platform itself is designed to capitalize on traffic. According to analytics service Semrush, NSFWPH receives more than 10 million page views each month, with users viewing an average of 25 pages per visit and remaining on the site for over 14 minutes. The website displays multiple advertisements on every page using ExoClick, an advertising network commonly used by adult websites. ExoClick estimates earnings of roughly $500 for every 3-5 million ad views, although actual revenues vary, depending on factors such as location and conversion rates. Each page on NSFWPH displays around five advertisements. The figures do not reveal exactly how much the site earns but they do show that this amount of traffic has commercial value. Together, they sustain a platform whose popularity depends on the continued circulation of intimate content — the origin of which are often questionable. What the law says Despite the apparent business built around these images and videos, Philippine law already prohibits much of the conduct taking place. The Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 makes it illegal not only to record sexual acts or private parts without consent, but also to copy, distribute, publish, sell, or broadcast such recordings without the written consent of everyone involved — even if the recording itself was initially consensual. The later Safe Spaces Act further strengthened protections by penalizing gender-based online harassment, including the non-consensual uploading or sharing of photos, audio, or videos with sexual content. Lawyer Dana Batnag, data privacy expert and human rights advocate, discussed further the elements of proper consent. "First, consent has to be informed. You need to tell me your purpose [for recording or documenting]. Consent has to be specific. A person can consent to documentation, but not for posting. If you were manipulated [to share intimate content], then was that consent freely given? Consent must also be freely given." Consent to take a photo or record a video doesn't mean that the person has also given consent to have the content distributed, shared, or posted by any means. Persons also have the right to retract that right at any time they want. Respicio Law also states: "A person who receives leaked private photos and forwards them may also face liability. 'I only shared it' is not always a defense… Group chat members, page admins, channel operators, and social media users should not repost, save, mock, or circulate intimate images." Based on data privacy laws, Batnag said that since the forum is trafficking sensitive personal information in the form of intimate photos and videos, the administrators and owners of the site should be identified. "For example, I'm one of those women. I have the right to know, under the data subjects right, who looked at my picture, who gave it to you, how you got it, your source of information. And I have the right to know to whom you shared those. As the data subject, I can demand that right. I can demand it from the owner of the website," the lawyer explained. The site allows users to request for a content takedown, but since these are intimate images that are considered sensitive personal information, that would also mean that when the thousands of users get to see them without the clear and express permission of the subject, it can be argued that a violative breach of privacy has occurred. Batnag also said that even if the website was hosted in another country, the owners of the website would face consequences under the Data Privacy Act, as the site deals with information of Filipinos, not just of the potential women victims, but also the very users registered on the site. According to Liza Garcia, executive director of the Foundation for Media Alternatives, who advocates against the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, a massive platform like NSFWPH inflicts "a lot of harm" on victims, particularly young women, who often suffer profound "emotional harm" and "psychological harm." Beyond the immediate trauma, victims face severe "harm to reputation" and even "financial harm" because the public nature of the exploitation can result in a victim being unable to work: "hindi ka na makapagtrabaho, ayaw mo na kasing lumabas ng bahay, nahiya ka na" (you can no longer work, you no longer want to leave the house, you are already ashamed). This "profound shame" often causes victims to "tend to isolate" themselves, which means the "economic aspect of [their] life" is deeply affected. This is the potential damage that can be caused by the operation of such a website. For Garcia, those harms are not hypothetical. They are the foreseeable consequence of a platform built around the circulation of intimate content. For the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), NSFWPH is part of a broader landscape of online sexual exploitation and non-consensual sharing of intimate material. The police have been actively pursuing perpetrators. From 2025 through August 2026, the PNP-ACG conducted 138 operations involving cyber warrants, entrapment operations, arrest warrants, and rescue operations, resulting in the arrest of 160 individuals involved in violations of the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act. Authorities also rescued minors and apprehended seven children in conflict with the law (CICL) related to these cases. But going after NSFWPH itself presents a different challenge: jurisdiction. A quick check on forensic tool Domaintools.com showed that the IP address of NSFWPH is connected to a Cloudflare server in San Francisco, California. Asueta said since the forum is hosted outside the Philippines, it is difficult for Philippine authorities to directly compel the platform to act. "So this is a jurisdictional issue," he said. Requests for takedowns can also be circumvented through new sites and VPNs. Asueta said these activities have existed for "medyo matagal-tagal na rin" (for quite a long time already). Recently, the PNP-ACG has seen fewer reports about the non-consensual spread of intimate images within its unit but cautioned that this does not necessarily mean the problem is declining because some victims may simply not be reporting. Server accountability Victims still have some recourse with content found on NSFWPH. The PNP-ACG said victims can file a complaint, and investigators can attempt to trace the source of the material found on the forum, identify an individual suspect, and pursue a case. The police can also apply for a cyber warrant to search and examine the suspect's cellphone or computer for evidence. But again, going after the actual platform is harder. Right now, if investigators can gather sufficient evidence, Asueta said they can coordinate with the relevant jurisdiction through Interpol and the International Mutual Legal Assistance mechanism — a formal method for international cooperation under the Department of Justice. However, in the longer term, Asueta called for laws requiring foreign platforms operating in the Philippines to establish local offices and submit to Philippine court processes such as warrants and subpoenas. To other women who may one day find themselves in the same position, Mishy offered fighting words: "Your body is not your shame. You deserve to take up space in this world without apologizing for what someone else did to you. There are countless women standing beside you, silently carrying the same wounds — but all of us are still worthy of every beautiful thing life has to offer. What happened to you is not a reflection of your worth." Mishy said that if she had enough proof or evidence on who leaked the videos, she would attempt to pursue a legal case. — Rappler.com Lance Ariel Bustos is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow for 2026, currently studying at the De La Salle University Manila. If you or someone you know has been targeted by online abuse, intimate-image abuse, harassment, or the non-consensual sharing of private content, tell us what happened. Your story could help expose how these abuses happen—and who enables them. You can reach us at desk@rappler.com. You may also report online abuse to the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group at 0998-598-8116 or (02) 414-1560, or to the NBI Cybercrime Division at (02) 8523-8231 to 38, local 3454 or 3455.