Is Demanding Money in Exchange for Not Publishing Photos Considered Blackmail?

Threats involving intimate images, carried out over social media and messaging apps, have become an increasingly common basis for criminal complaints in major Turkish cities, Istanbul in particular. Article 107 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) punishes demanding money under threat of publishing someone’s photographs with imprisonment of 1 to 3 years; as of 2026, the judicial fine attached to this offense is also calculated at between 100 and 500 Turkish lira per day-fine unit. In practice, however, the majority of these cases are not limited to a single offense, contrary to common assumption.

The Legal Definition and Scope of Blackmail

Under Article 107 of the TCK, blackmail (chantaj) is defined as compelling a person, through threat, to do or refrain from doing something unlawful, or something they are not obliged to do or refrain from doing. The perpetrator’s aim is to secure an unlawful benefit for themselves or another party, and that benefit is most often money, though it can also take the form of compelling someone to continue a particular behavior. A key feature of this provision is that the threat does not need to be carried out: the mere existence of the threat to publish is sufficient for the offense to be complete.

A concrete example helps illustrate the point: if a person states that they are in possession of private photographs of a former partner and threatens to share them with friends, family, or on social media unless a certain sum of money is sent, the offense of blackmail is considered complete even if the images are never actually published anywhere.

Is Threatening with Photos Always Assessed the Same Way?

The point of real debate is whether a given case should be evaluated as blackmail alone or alongside another offense. A common misconception in practice is the oversimplification that “if money was demanded, it is automatically blackmail and nothing else needs to be considered.” In reality, how the images were obtained, whether consent was involved, and the content of the threat all directly affect how the case is legally classified.

For example, if the images were taken secretly, without the person’s knowledge or consent, or recorded in a private setting, the offense of violation of privacy under Article 134 of the TCK also comes into play. If the images were initially shared consensually (for instance, during a relationship) but later used as a tool of threat, blackmail provisions apply as the primary charge; however, if the images are actually published, a separate offense under Article 134 arises as well.

One Offense or Several? The Correct Approach

In our assessment, limiting such cases to a single charge understates the victim’s legal position. Blackmail and violation of privacy protect different legal interests: one safeguards a person’s freedom of will, the other their right to privacy. For this reason, the actual publication of images, whether it occurs simultaneously with the threat or afterward, is generally evaluated as a separate offense under the rules of concursus of real offenses (gercek ictima).

If a criminal complaint is drafted using only the phrase “I was blackmailed,” it risks causing the investigating authority to frame the case too narrowly. It is critical that the victim’s lawyer sets out, separately and in detail, the content of the threat, how the images were obtained, and whether any actual publication took place, since this is decisive for establishing the correct legal classification of the offense.

Changes to Sentencing and Proceedings in 2026

Investigation of the offense of blackmail does not require a formal complaint as a precondition; the public prosecutor’s office can act on its own initiative (ex officio) as soon as it becomes aware of the incident. Under the regulation that entered into force in 2026, a court may now order the deferral of the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) without requiring the defendant’s separate consent, and objections to such decisions can now be filed directly with the Regional Court of Appeal (Istinaf). This change alters how the process unfolds for both victims and defendants compared to previous years.

For instance, where conditions such as the defendant’s lack of prior criminal record and compensation for damages are met, the court may apply an HAGB order; however, since this decision no longer depends on the defendant’s consent, it becomes especially important for the victim to actively exercise their right of objection at the appellate stage.

What Should a Victim Pay Attention to When Filing a Complaint?

The most critical step in a blackmail case is preserving evidence before it can be lost. Threatening messages, voice calls, or social media correspondence should be screenshotted before anything is deleted, and ideally preserved together with the account details and the date and time stamps of the messages. For instance, a threatening message received via WhatsApp should be backed up directly from the device itself, not only through a screenshot, since a screenshot alone may be deemed insufficient in certain forensic examinations.

Once evidence has been secured, the victim may file a criminal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office or apply directly to a law enforcement unit. The complaint petition should set out in detail the exact content of the threat, the nature of the benefit demanded (money or otherwise), and any prior history of contact between the parties. At this stage, the legal steps available to victims of online fraud can also serve as useful guidance, since the logic of evidence-gathering and complaint filing is largely similar across these types of cases.

Conclusion: What to Do, and in What Order

Demanding money in exchange for not publishing photographs constitutes the offense of blackmail when considered in isolation; however, depending on how the images were obtained and whether they were actually published, it may need to be assessed alongside the offense of violation of privacy. Correctly drawing this distinction has a direct impact both on the scope of the investigation and on the criminal sanctions ultimately sought.

Anyone who receives such a threat is advised, first, to preserve the evidence securely without cutting off communication in a way that could cause evidence to be lost, and then to apply to the public prosecutor’s office or law enforcement without delay. Seeking the support of a lawyer at the outset of the process works to the victim’s advantage, both in correctly establishing the nature of the offense and in ensuring that the complaint petition is prepared completely and accurately.