Should the Internet Forget Italy's Most Viral Sex Tape?
Maria Teresa Giglio has a daily routine of hunting down men who are trying to watch her daughter’s sex tape. She starts by searching the internet for her daughter’s name: Tiziana Cantone. Then she scours websites for photos of Tiziana, and tries to track down back channels or personal pages that still host her videos.
One comment she found recently was posted under an article about Tiziana on Facebook: “Where can I get a link to the video??” Maria took three screenshots: one of the comment, one of the commenter—a chirpy-looking young man, judging by his profile picture—and one of a photo of the young man with a woman who Maria assumed was his girlfriend. Maria shared the screenshots on her own account as evidence that people are still talking about Tiziana. “He’s just like the other usual ‘good’ boys I come across on Facebook,” she says. “The ones who have pictures posing and smiling with their other half, but the next minute they’re wanting to watching her video.”
Three years ago, Tiziana, an energetic young Italian woman who managed the staff at her family’s business in Naples, sent several explicit videos to five people on WhatsApp. The recordings show her having sex with several men; her face is visible, but the men are mostly unidentifiable. Her ex-boyfriend Sergio Di Palo was one of the recipients of the videos, though it’s unclear if he’s featured in them.
Within weeks, the footage was shared across WhatsApp and all over adult websites. Rumors swirled around who posted the videos online: Had sent them to Di Palo out of spite? Had Di Palo or someone
