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Rape case against accused sex cult leader moves forward
Prosecutors say they have enough information to move forward in the case against suspected sex cult leader Eligio Bishop. The alleged leader was in a virtual hearing on Wednesday where a judge decided to the case to superior court.
ATLANTA - A DeKalb County judge determined the state provided sufficient evidence to prosecute Eligio Bishop, the alleged leader of a sex cult, for rape and false imprisonment.
Bishop is accused of raping a woman who tried to leave the so-called cult. Authorities also claim, without her permission, he posted videos of the two having sex prior to the alleged rape on Twitter. Bishop's accuser said he was doing it out of revenge.
Twitter, which recently changed hands and is under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk, and its sensitive media policy play a key role in the case. Ultimately, DeKalb County Judge Phyllis Williams said whether the content in the videos did or didn't violate Twitter's sensitive media policy won't factor into determining whether the woman provided consent.
PROSECUTOR PRESENTS EVIDENCE AGAINST ALLEGED SEX CULT LEADER
"It was a surprise to me that Twitter allows such videos to be posted, but the consent, with respect to the law, does not belong to Twitter, it belongs to the victim," Williams said.
Twitter's connection to alleged sex cult leader, rape case
The woman Bishop allegedly raped, who FOX 5 Atlanta identifies as A.V., claimed he was posting sexually explicit videos of her on Twitter without her consent. Detectives watched three of the four videos showing the tow having sexual intercourse. Investigators sent a search warrant to Twitter, to which the social media platform has allegedly not responded.
Bishop has allegedly posted other explicit videos, prosecutor Tabitha Pazmino said.
Detective Monica Panosian said Twitter allows limited sexually explicit video as long as the video is consensual and does not depict domestic violence.
A.V. told Detective Monica Panosian they were part of a "sex cult" for three to four years and lived with them on multiple occasions. A.V. told detectives Bishop instructed women to physically hit her when she tried to leave. The detective said leaving the group left the woman feeling guilty.
Bishop became irate when she came back inside to say goodbye. A.V. told investigators she "begged" to leave before Bishop raped er, stating no "multiple times."
Panosian said most of the members of Bishop's cult would not speak to investigators.
A.V. told detectives she changed her phone number, deleted social media and stopped communicating with members of the alleged cult after leaving.
What is Twitter's policy for sexually explicit material?
Twitter allows users to post various kinds of sexually explicit material, violent material and hateful material.
This content is sometimes blocked with a blurry thumbnail and warning in front of it, based on a user's security settings.
There are criteria that Twitter uses to determine if content is sexually explicit:
- "full or partial nudity, including close-ups of genitals, buttocks, or breasts"
- "simulated sexual acts"
- sexual intercourse or other sexual acts, including cartoons, hentai, or anime "involving humans or depictions of animals with human-like features"
Twitter said some educational or "artistic" nudity does not fall under its definition of adult content.
Twitter's sensitive media policy states the content must have been shared consensually and cannot depict domestic violence.
Twitter allows anyone to report content that appears to include non-consensual nudity. Twitter says it immediately and permanently suspends users who violate the policy.
How does Twitter determine sexual content was posted without consent?
Twitter indicates a few examples of types of content that violate its non-consensual nudity policy:
- hidden camera content featuring nudity, partial nudity, and/or sexual acts
- "creepshots" or "upskirts"
- images or videos that superimpose or otherwise digitally manipulate an individual’s face onto another person’s nude body
- images or videos that are taken in an intimate setting and not intended for public distribution
- offering a bounty or financial reward in exchange for intimate images or videos
- videos accompanied by text that makes the content appear vengeful in context
In less obvious cases, such as the videos in Bishop's rape case, it's unclear how Twitter would determine if a video was posted consensually.