The criminal offense of sextortion is a form of blackmail or extortion and is committed when a person threatens to publish private nude, pornographic, or explicit photos, videos, or images of another person’s body or sexual activity unless the person provides something of value—such as money, sexual activity, more sexual images, or the performance of sexual acts (often online using webcams).

Sextortion laws vary from state to state and are sometimes part of a state’s laws regarding revenge pornography, blackmail, extortion, bribery, or cyberstalking and are prosecuted under those or other criminal offenses rather than as a specific offense called sextortion. These laws are generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code—and are sometimes titled with descriptive names such as The Unlawful Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material.

In Washington State, sextortion is addressed under various statutes related to extortion, privacy, and harassment. Specifically, RCW 9A.56.130 outlines the crime of extortion in the second degree, which includes obtaining property or services by wrongfully threatening to reveal intimate images, which could cover some forms of sextortion. Additionally, Washington has a 'revenge porn' law under RCW 9A.86.010, known as 'Disclosing intimate images without consent,' which makes it illegal to distribute intimate images without the consent of the person depicted when there is an expectation of privacy. While Washington does not have a specific statute with the title 'sextortion,' the acts commonly associated with sextortion are prosecutable under these and other related laws, such as cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260) and computer trespass (RCW 9A.52.110). These laws collectively aim to protect individuals from the unauthorized distribution of intimate images and the threat of such distribution for extortion purposes.