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 Alabama, sextortion is not recognized as a distinct criminal offense under a specific statute titled 'sextortion.' However, individuals who engage in sextortion can be prosecuted under various existing Alabama laws that criminalize similar conduct. For instance, Alabama Code § 13A-11-8 covers the crime of extortion, which includes obtaining something of value from another person through the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear. Additionally, Alabama's revenge pornography laws, found in Alabama Code § 13A-12-192, make it illegal to disseminate a private image without consent, with the intent to harass, intimidate, threaten, or coerce the depicted person. This statute could apply to cases where private sexual images are used as leverage in sextortion. Other related offenses that may be used to prosecute sextortion include harassment, stalking, and computer crimes, depending on the specific circumstances of the case.