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The Sociotechnical Stack: Opportunities for Social Computing Research in Non-consensual Intimate Media

Li Qiwei, Allison McDonald, Oliver L. Haimson, Sarita Schoenebeck, Eric Gilbert

TL;DR

The paper identifies non-consensual intimate media as a multifaceted sociotechnical problem and introduces the sociotechnical stack to connect social harms with layered technical components. It combines victim-survivor narratives with a structured analysis across UI, applications, algorithms, networks, storage/OS, and hardware to show how each layer facilitates NCIM and suggests targeted research per layer. The contributions include the conceptual framework, an empirical-informed NCIM analysis, and a detailed, multi-layered roadmap for computing and social computing communities to deter perpetrators and support victims. This approach aims to shift design and policy discussions toward integrative, stack-aware interventions that address root causes and downstream harms. The work has practical significance for platform design, policy development, and trauma-informed support, offering concrete directions to reduce NCIM proliferation while preserving privacy and speech rights.

Abstract

Non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) involves sharing intimate content without the depicted person's consent, including "revenge porn" and sexually explicit deepfakes. While NCIM has received attention in legal, psychological, and communication fields over the past decade, it is not sufficiently addressed in computing scholarship. This paper addresses this gap by linking NCIM harms to the specific technological components that facilitate them. We introduce the sociotechnical stack, a conceptual framework designed to map the technical stack to its corresponding social impacts. The sociotechnical stack allows us to analyze sociotechnical problems like NCIM, and points toward opportunities for computing research. We propose a research roadmap for computing and social computing communities to deter NCIM perpetration and support victim-survivors through building and rebuilding technologies.

The Sociotechnical Stack: Opportunities for Social Computing Research in Non-consensual Intimate Media

TL;DR

The paper identifies non-consensual intimate media as a multifaceted sociotechnical problem and introduces the sociotechnical stack to connect social harms with layered technical components. It combines victim-survivor narratives with a structured analysis across UI, applications, algorithms, networks, storage/OS, and hardware to show how each layer facilitates NCIM and suggests targeted research per layer. The contributions include the conceptual framework, an empirical-informed NCIM analysis, and a detailed, multi-layered roadmap for computing and social computing communities to deter perpetrators and support victims. This approach aims to shift design and policy discussions toward integrative, stack-aware interventions that address root causes and downstream harms. The work has practical significance for platform design, policy development, and trauma-informed support, offering concrete directions to reduce NCIM proliferation while preserving privacy and speech rights.

Abstract

Non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) involves sharing intimate content without the depicted person's consent, including "revenge porn" and sexually explicit deepfakes. While NCIM has received attention in legal, psychological, and communication fields over the past decade, it is not sufficiently addressed in computing scholarship. This paper addresses this gap by linking NCIM harms to the specific technological components that facilitate them. We introduce the sociotechnical stack, a conceptual framework designed to map the technical stack to its corresponding social impacts. The sociotechnical stack allows us to analyze sociotechnical problems like NCIM, and points toward opportunities for computing research. We propose a research roadmap for computing and social computing communities to deter NCIM perpetration and support victim-survivors through building and rebuilding technologies.
Paper Structure (50 sections, 2 figures)

This paper contains 50 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview of NCIM
  3. Related Work
  4. Legal lenses of NCIM
  5. Empirical studies of NCIM
  6. Challenges in addressing NCIM
  7. Privacy and cybersecurity
  8. Content moderation
  9. Technical interventions for consent
  10. The sociotechnical stack
  11. Data Sources
  12. Vignettes
  13. NCIM Along the sociotechnical stack
  14. User interface
  15. Loss of control over content after sent
  16. ...and 35 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 2: Non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) creation, obtainment, and distribution.
  • Figure 3: The conceptual framework sociotechnical stack maps social impacts to the layers of the technical stack that facilitates or enables them. We share https://osf.io/3q79x/?view_only=44b59c704d8a47bbb054438bd9c9d7ce in PowerPoint and Keynote.