The Government announced on 13 September 2024 an important change to the law which will help victims of intimate image-based abuse online. The offence of sharing intimate images without consent will be made a ‘priority offence’ under the Online Safety Act, when the relevant provisions come into force from spring 2025. Priority offences reflect the “most serious and prevalent illegal content and activity” such as terrorism, fraud, selling illegal drugs or weapons, sexual exploitation or child sexual abuse.

What this means is that social media platforms will “need to put in place systems for removing illegal content when it does appear. Search services will also have new duties to take to reduce the risk users encounter illegal content via their services”. Failure to do so will lead to large fines imposed by the regulator OFCOM of up to 10% of a firm’s qualifying worldwide revenue.

This development builds on changes in the criminal law which came into force on 31 January 2024. These included extending protection to deepfake images as well as victims no longer having to prove intent to cause distress when intimate images have been shared without their consent. Victims can also pursue a civil claim for damages and other remedies for breach of privacy, breach of confidence, intentional infliction of harm, harassment and/or a breach of the UK GDPR.

Managing associate Louise Prince said “Today’s news is another positive step in the fight to tackle the rise in nonconsensual and abusive sharing or selling of private intimate images. It is absolutely essential that the law continues to keep in step with changes to technology and provide proper protection to victims of unlawful content online.”

The announcement of this change in the law can be found here: Crackdown on intimate image abuse as government strengthens online safety laws – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)