One night in 2023, Eric was scrolling on a social media channel he regularly browsed for porn. Seconds into a video, he froze.

He realised the couple he was watching - entering the room, setting down their bags, and later, having sex - was himself and his girlfriend. Three weeks earlier, they had spent the night in a hotel in Shenzhen, southern China, unaware that they were not alone.

Their most intimate moments had been captured by a camera hidden in their hotel room, and the footage made available to thousands of strangers who had logged in to the channel Eric himself used to access pornography.

Eric (not his real name) was no longer just a consumer of China's spy-cam porn industry, but a victim.

On Telegram - banned in China but commonly used for illicit activity - AKA advertised these livestreams. One Telegram channel had as many as 10,000 members during the course of our investigation.