When western norms shape global safety: How Meta responds to non-consensual image abuse cases in Pakistan

The non-consensual sharing of intimate images is all too common, and well-documented globally. But little is known about what happens when or if victims of this abuse seek help. This is especially true in non-Western contexts where norms around privacy, honor  and modesty significantly shape the manifestation of this form of abuse and can carry life-altering consequences. 

A new study by University of Michigan School of Information PhD candidate Amna Batool and UMSI professor Kentaro Toyama examines how Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies and Meta communicate, collaborate and negotiate authority in urgent cases involving Non-Consensual Image Disclosure Abuse, or NCIDA. “Between court orders and platform policies: understanding law enforcement and meta interactions in addressing non-consensual image disclosure abuse” was published in the Proceedings of the Twenty-First USENIX Conference on Usable Privacy and Security. 

Batool analyzed 68 communication threads between the Cybercrime Wing of a federal law enforcement agency and Meta platforms, alongside interviews with law enforcement officers and legal experts.

“We found  that while Meta is proactive in responding to law enforcement requests, its cooperation with agencies is highly selective and shaped by West-centric moderation frameworks originally designed for regular user interactions rather than cross-jurisdictional or context-specific justice needs,” Batool says. 

The findings reveal that Meta’s cooperation with law enforcement is not intentionally dismissive, but it is structurally constrained by platform designs centered on Western assumptions about harm, privacy and evidence. Since starting her PhD program at UMSI, Batool has published a myriad of research items on how to improve the online privacy and safety of marginalized communities around the world. 

“Since most research on image-based abuse and other forms of online harm has been conducted primarily in Western contexts, my work aims to highlight how these abuses manifest in non-Western settings,” Batool says. “This focus helps address the skewed nature of current scholarship, which limits the effectiveness of existing prevention mechanisms that are often designed around a narrow set of cultural assumptions despite the global reach of these technologies.”

Batool’s study recommends creating a separate, faster system for handling law enforcement requests, rather than routing them through the same processes used for everyday user reports.  She also urges platforms to redesign request templates so they capture local context, cultural sensitivities, and jurisdiction-specific details that current systems overlook.

Batool graduates this semester and plans to pursue actionable, community-centered research in digital safety. She intends to develop digital literacy interventions, collaborate with on-the-ground organizations to streamline reporting processes and work with platforms to integrate ethical AI practices into moderation workflows.

“Between court orders and platform policies: understanding law enforcement and meta interactions in addressing non-consensual image disclosure abuse” was recently recognized with the Social Impact Runner-Up Award at the 2025 CSAW Applied Research Competition, a global showcase of high-impact privacy and security scholarship. Out of 189 nominated papers, 11 finalists were selected by a committee of 27 reviewers and invited to present at NYU before a panel of judges. Batool’s paper was awarded the runner-up distinction for its contributions to protecting vulnerable users and shaping the future of online safety.

“This recognition means a lot to me because it highlights the social impact of my research and its potential to protect lives from online harms,” she says. “Receiving this award signifies that both my voice and the voices of the communities I work with are being heard.”

Read “Between court orders and platform policies: understanding law enforcement and meta interactions in addressing non-consensual image disclosure abuse” in the Twenty-First Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security and see the abstract below: 

Non-Consensual Image Disclosure Abuse (NCIDA) occurs when one person posts, or threatens to post, sensitive images of another person online with the intent to extort, humiliate, or harm. Though much is known about NCIDAs, almost nothing is known about how law enforcement agencies (LEAs) work with social media companies to address them, especially outside the West. Through discussions with Pakistani law enforcement, and legal experts, and analysis of LEA requests submitted to Meta platforms, we find that platforms are reasonably proactive in responding to NCIDA-related requests. However, their decisions seem to be heavily influenced by their universal content-moderation policies, which are determined by Western norms that prioritize sexually explicit content but neglect content considered sensitive in other cultures. Our findings contribute a nuanced understanding of the communication between LEAs and social media companies in combating NCIDA, and lead to recommendations for platforms and government policy in mitigating NCIDA.

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Learn more about UMSI PhD candidate Amna Batool and UMSI professor Kentaro Toyama by visiting their UMSI profiles. 

Check out UMSI’s PhD in Information program today!