Nicole “Nikki” Catsouras, who died at 18, was involved in a high-speed car crash after she lost control of her Father’s Porsche 911 Carrera and hitting a toll booth in Lake Forest, California.
The controversy surrounding the Nikki Catsouras photographs relates to the photos that were leaked of Nicole.
Due to the distress this caused, Catsouras’ family decided to file a lawsuit after pictures of her disfigured body were posted online.
In the Catsouras case, users felt free to remove the image of a fatal accident from its original context and use it for dark entertainment after assuming ownership of the idea of death.
Most people wouldn’t think it appropriate to make jokes about such a tragedy in front of others (face-to-face), much less to taunt and bully surviving family members in person.
Porsche Girl Head Photos Went Viral
The morbid meme “Porsche Girl,” inspired by pictures of a teenage girl taken after a fatal car accident, illustrates the vulnerability of “memeified” subjects and the ethical challenges associated with the online dissemination of sensitive material.
