New UK law forces tech platforms to delete abusive images in 48 hours
Tech companies will be ordered to take down intimate images shared without a victim’s consent within 48 hours, under new laws to protect women and girls from this distressing abuse.
Through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, companies will be legally required to remove this content no more than 48 hours after it is flagged to them, and platforms that fail to act could face fines of up to 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue or have their services blocked in the UK.
The government said it is determined to make sure that victims will only need to report an image once. This would mean that when an image is reported, it is removed across multiple platforms in one go, and from then on, it is automatically deleted at every new upload.
As part of that work, plans are currently being considered by Ofcom for these kinds of images to be treated with the same severity as child sexual abuse and terrorism content, digitally marking them so that any time someone tries to repost them, they will be automatically taken down.
Blocking access
In a further step to protect victims, government said it will publish guidance for internet providers setting out how they should block access to sites hosting this content, targeting rogue websites that may fall outside the reach of the Online Safety Act.
In recent years, there has been a worrying trend of intimate images being used to threaten, intimidate and distress, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is determined to hand back control to victims and end their fear that even when an image is taken down, it will only be put up somewhere else.
“As Director of Public Prosecutions, I saw firsthand the unimaginable, often lifelong pain and trauma violence against women and girls causes. As Prime Minister, I will leave no stone unturned in the fight to protect women from violence and abuse,” Starmer said.
“The online world is the frontline of the 21st-century battle against violence against women and girls. That’s why my government is taking urgent action against chatbots and ‘nudification’ tools.
“Today we are going further, putting companies on notice so that any non-consensual image is taken down in under 48 hours. Violence against women and girls has no place in our society, and I will not rest until it is rooted out.”
