It is now illegal to impersonate another person on social media in Romania.
Romania’s top court has criminalized social media identity theft punishing it with prison sentences of up to five years
The High Court of Cassation and Justice made the ruling after a request from the Brasov Court of Appeal which had sentenced a man to 3 years 8 months prison for ‘revenge porn’ after he posted photos and video of his former girlfriend on a site for adults.
The court convicted him of blackmail, distributing false information and violating someone’s private life, Agerpres news agency reported.
The high court ruled that creating a fake account in the name of another person and posting images, video or text was a crime punishable by one to five years in prison.
The unnamed man threatened his former girlfriend that if she didn’t get back together with him, he would post pictures of her and the pair of them in intimate moments.
He then went ahead with his threat and created a profile in her name on an adult site where he posted the images. He also created a fake account on Facebook and used it to send the same pictures.
The Brasov Appeal Court asked the high court to make a pronouncement about the issue it as a case of legal rights.
In its ruling, the court said it was a illegal for a person to create an account on social media in another person’s name without that person’s agreement.
