Is Anyone Up? was a

pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

website based on stolen and hacked photos that ceased operation in 2012. It allowed users to submit photographs or videos anonymously, mainly nude, erotic, and sexually explicit images. The site was closely associated with the

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

music scene, also featuring and depicting numerous nude photos of musicians of these genres. Is Anyone Up? was subject to great controversy because of the prevalence of

revenge porn Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...

submissions to the service, many of which were submitted by former romantic partners without consent and with malicious intent. Many of the submitted revenge porn images were obtained as a result of multiple email account hacks. The ongoing incidents resulted in numerous lawsuits and even death threats aimed at Hunter Moore, founder and owner of Is Anyone Up?. The website was shut down on April 19, 2012.

History and background

Is Anyone Up? was founded in late 2010. Founder Hunter Moore stated that the site was originally intended to be a

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

website. The idea for the site came from a woman who he continually asked to send him suggestive pictures. He then created a blog, hosting nude photographs from any person who would send them to him, which eventually became isanyoneup.com. Moore profited off the website by running pornography ads and selling merchandise. For the month of November 2011, the website's revenue was $13,000, its server fees were $8,000, and its page views were over 30 million. Moore reported that he worked 19 hours a day, five days a week, managing the site, and had a team of six working for him, including two age-verification specialists, to ensure that everyone shown was at least 18 years old. Submissions to the website usually followed the same formula, depicting a person's social networking website profile thumbnail (such as their

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

profile), then showing images of them clothed, before revealing images of their genitalia. In some cases, images showed people engaging in sexual acts such as

masturbation Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...

. Each submission line then ended with a "reaction image", usually showing a still or

animated gif The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , ) is a Raster graphics, bitmap Image file formats, image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released ...

file of a popular scene or

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

as a satirical "reaction" to the images shown. Moore stated that he took legal precautions before uploading images to the site, initially verifying the age of the people whose photographs were submitted through

social networking A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

sites. He sent the IP information of people who submitted photos of underage individuals to a lawyer in Las Vegas, who turned it over to law enforcement. Another category on the site, called "Daily Hate", featured angry reactions from people who had their pictures posted without their consent. On April 19, 2012, Moore sold the website to James McGibney, who runs Bullyville.com, a site which allows anonymous people to share details about people who have bullied or harassed them. Moore posted an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to BullyVille.com and on the isanyoneup.com domain explaining his decision.

Controversy

Is Anyone Up? was the subject of much controversy. Many individuals sued Moore or those associated with the Is Anyone Up? domain for the display of their nude images on the website. While some images were self-submitted, others were "

", which has been described as being "pornographic souvenirs from relationships gone sour". In November 2011, Moore appeared on '' Anderson'' to discuss Is Anyone Up? while being confronted by two women who had been exposed on the website by an anonymous user. When one of the women criticized Moore for "helping" deceptive people who spread such photographs, he responded: "No one put a gun to your head and made you take these pictures. It's 2011, everything's on the Internet." On August 21, 2012, BullyVille founder James McGibney posted an open letter to Hunter Moore on the main page of the isanyoneup domain, announcing a class action lawsuit and encouraging people to join in.

Incidents

Florida rock band

A Day to Remember A Day to Remember is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Ocala, Florida, in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of metalcore and pop-punk. The band currently consists of voca ...

refused to play at the 2011 Bamboozle festival, knowing Hunter Moore was in attendance. They demanded that he be removed from the venue because they objected to Moore's site hosting nude images of the band's bassist, Joshua Woodard, weeks beforehand. One morning in August 2011, Moore was attacked and stabbed with a pen by a woman featured on the website. Moore managed to escape with a shoulder wound that required surgery. In December 2011, social networking website

reportedly threatened legal action against the website, blocked any linking to the isanyoneup.com domain through its site, and deleted the official "like" page from its database.

FBI investigation

On May 16, 2012, ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' reported that Moore and Is Anyone Up? were the subject of an investigation by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, as a large number of the pictures formerly hosted on the site were believed to have been illegally obtained by a hacker known as "Gary Jones". ABC ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...

'' revealed that the FBI investigation was started by

Charlotte Laws Charlotte Anne Laws (born May 11, 1960), also known by her stage name Missy Laws, is an American author, talk show host, animal rights advocate, anti-revenge porn activist, former politician, and actress. Laws is a former BBC News contributor a ...

after a photo of her daughter appeared on the website. In January 2014, Moore and his alleged aide Charles Evens were arrested by the FBI and indicted in a federal district court in California on charges of conspiracy, unauthorized access to a protected computer, and aggravated

identity theft Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...

. In February 2015, Moore pled guilty to aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting in the unauthorized access of a computer. On July 2, 2015, Charles Evens pleaded guilty to charges of computer hacking and identity theft, confessing to stealing hundreds of images from women's email accounts and selling them to Moore. U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee sentenced Evens to more than two years in jail and a fine of $2000. The same judge sentenced Moore in December 2015 to 2 1/2 years in a federal prison with three years' supervision following his release. He also had to undergo a mental health evaluation and pay a $2000 fine.

Popular culture

Previously mentioned Florida based metalcore group A Day to Remember have a song named "Life Lessons Learned The Hard Way" that describes an attack on Moore that was planned, but never carried out. The song also touches on the topic of a suicide that happened due to nude photos of the person being posted on the site and subsequently spread throughout the internet. German metalcore group Electric Callboy have a single named "Is Anyone Up?" that describes the site's general idea and attributes. Electronic band Blood on the Dance Floor released the album ''

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

'' in 2012, containing the song "Revenge Porn" which references the site and Hunter Moore in the lyrics. Electropop group Millionaires released a remix of the

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

song "My Chick Bad" titled "My Chick Bad (Remix)" that contained lyrics discussing posting images on Is Anyone Up?. In July 2022, Netflix announced they were releasing a three-part documentary series on July 27 about Moore and IsAnyoneUp.com entitled '' The Most Hated Man on the Internet'' featuring interviews with victims and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

. Moore initially agreed to take part in the documentary but later declined.

References