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

TL;DR

This paper introduces the sociotechnical stack framework to analyze and address non-consensual intimate media harms, highlighting opportunities for computing research to prevent perpetration and aid victims.

Contribution

It presents the sociotechnical stack as a novel framework linking technical components to social impacts in NCIM, filling a gap in computing scholarship.

Findings

Framework connects technology and social harm in NCIM

Identifies opportunities for computing research to mitigate NCIM

Proposes a research roadmap for social computing communities

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.