A man who goes by the pseudonym Eric recently came forward with a story that many people would consider their worst nightmare come to life. Speaking to BBC, the Hong Kong resident revealed that he discovered a nearly hour-long video of himself and his girlfriend, referred to as Emily, on an adult website dedicated to voyeurism. The footage had been captured by a hidden spy camera during their stay at a hotel in Shenzhen, in southern China, back in 2023. Thousands of people had already viewed the video by the time Eric stumbled upon it.
Eric, who is now in his thirties, admitted that he had been visiting voyeuristic pornography websites since he was a teenager, which is ultimately how he came across the footage of himself. He explained to BBC what had drawn him to this type of content in the first place, saying: “What attracted me is the fact that people don’t know they are being filmed. I think traditional pornography looks very staged, very fake.” The video he found showed the couple entering the hotel room, unpacking their bags, and later engaging in intimacy, all recorded without their knowledge or consent. It was a jarring moment of recognition that forced him to confront the nature of the content he had long consumed.
Eric waited three weeks before telling Emily what he had found. Initially, she thought he was making it up, and it wasn’t until she saw the footage herself that the reality of the situation set in. She was immediately horrified by the thought that her friends, family members, or coworkers might have seen the video. The emotional fallout was significant, and according to Eric, the two “didn’t speak for weeks” after the discovery. The experience fundamentally changed how they move through the world.
Today, the couple takes extra precautions whenever they go out in public, regularly wearing caps or hats to reduce the chances of being recognized. They also go out of their way to avoid staying in hotels whenever possible. Eric says he has stopped consuming spy camera pornography altogether, though he admits he occasionally searches those sites to check whether any new footage of him has surfaced online. The story has shed an uncomfortable light on a form of exploitation that affects real people in very real ways.
The production and distribution of pornography is illegal in China, which has pushed many people in the country toward platforms like Telegram to find out where to access explicit websites and applications. So-called spy camera pornography is frequently advertised on social media and instant messaging services, creating a shadow industry that is difficult to regulate. The Chinese government introduced new measures in April of last year requiring hotel owners to regularly inspect their rooms for hidden recording devices, in an effort to address what has been described as an epidemic of spy cameras. Despite these efforts, incidents involving secret recordings continue to surface with alarming frequency. Some people have reportedly gone so far as to set up tents inside rented rooms out of fear of being secretly filmed.
Hidden camera voyeurism is a serious criminal offense in most countries around the world, often falling under laws related to privacy violations, sexual exploitation, or non-consensual intimate imagery. The term “revenge porn” is sometimes used interchangeably with this type of content, though the two are technically distinct. Non-consensual intimate imagery refers broadly to any sexually explicit material shared without the subject’s permission, whether it was originally taken consensually or, as in Eric and Emily’s case, captured entirely without their knowledge. Victims of such recordings often face profound psychological consequences, including anxiety, depression, and lasting damage to personal and professional relationships. In recent years, advocacy groups and lawmakers in multiple countries have pushed for stronger legal protections for victims, including mandatory removal requirements for websites that host such content and heavier criminal penalties for those who create and distribute it.
If this story raises concerns about your own privacy when staying in hotels or other accommodations, or if it sparked a wider conversation about consent and exploitation, share your thoughts in the comments.
