Sharing “downblouse” images and pornographic “deepfakes” without consent could be criminalised in England and Wales.
On Friday, the government announced that it will put forward an amendment to the Online Safety Bill, which would criminalise the sharing of a person’s intimate images without their consent.
This includes those who share “deepfakes,” or explicit images or videos that have been manipulated to look like someone without their consent. This will also will include “downblousing,” where photos are taken down a woman’s top.
It follows the news that the delayed bill, which will regulate online spaces, will return to Parliament next month.
Non-Consensual Sharing of Manufactured Intimate Images
The Ministry of Justice will also bring forward laws to tackle the installation of equipment, such as hidden cameras, to take or record images of someone without their consent.
It will repeal and replace current legislation with new offences “to simplify the law and make it easier to prosecute cases.”
This includes a new base offence of sharing an intimate image without consent and two more serious offences based on intent to cause humiliation, alarm, or distress and for obtaining sexual gratification.
Two specific offences for threatening to share and installing equipment to enable images to be taken will also be created, as well as criminalising the non-consensual sharing of manufactured intimate images.
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab, said, “We must do more to protect women and girls, from people who take or manipulate intimate photos in order to hound or humiliate them.”
“Our changes will give police and prosecutors the powers they need to bring these cowards to justice and safeguard women and girls from such vile abuse,” he added.
‘This Form of Abuse Can Be Devastating’
Leading legal expert Clare McGlynn has warned of an “epidemic” of sexual abuse where images of people’s faces are merged with pornography and made available online. She has expertise in the legal regulation of pornography, image-based sexual abuse, including “revenge porn” and “upskirting,” and sexual violence.
McGlynn is also a member of the UK Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel hearing appeals in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying, and harassment.
“I think this announcement, that it will be an offence to distribute a deepfake pornography video without consent, is a welcome step forward,” McGlynn told The Epoch Times in an email.
“We have known for many years that this form of abuse can be devastating. We also know that the technology is getting easier to use and therefore the spread of deepfake porn is likely to increase,” she added.
“While the government announcement today is of a new criminal offence, if we are to see a reduction in non-consensual material, the internet platforms and social media companies must be mandated to take action. The Online Safety Bill provides an opportunity for change, but it needs to be revised to obligate Ofcom to prepare a Code of Practice on Violence against Women and Girls in order to ensure that the tech platforms take this abuse seriously,” said McGlynn.
The bill has mainly come under fire from ministers within the Conservative Party itself as well as free speech activists who have warned it could significantly curtail freedom of expression.
“I think the concerns about freedom of speech and the [Online Safety Bill] neglect to consider that the current level of abuse and harassment online restricts women’s freedom of speech, and many other minority groups who experience high levels of online abuse,” said McGlynn.
“Regulation frees women’s speech, enabling us to participate online,” she added.
Harmful Acts
Matthew Lesh, head of public policy at the free market think tank IEA, has written extensively and criticised the Online Safety Bill and has warned that it raises serious threats to freedom of expression, privacy, and innovation.
However, he said the new move was a “much more sensible use of law.”
“The government’s focus on criminal justice, like outlawing targeted deepfakes, is a welcome step in the right direction,” Lesh said in an email to The Epoch Times.
“This is a much more sensible use of law than dictating to social media sites their approach on legal but harmful speech or outlawing causing emotional distress, like in the current Online Safety Bill,” he added.
Commenting on the intimate image abuse reforms, Penney Lewis, commissioner for criminal law at the Law Commission, said in a statement: “Taking or sharing intimate images of a person without their consent can inflict lasting damage.
“We are pleased that the Government has committed to take forward our recommendations to strengthen the law. A new set of offences will capture a wider range of abusive behaviours, ensuring that more perpetrators of these deeply harmful acts face prosecution.”
Under the bill, the biggest social media platforms must carry out risk assessments on the types of harms that could appear on their services and how they plan to address them, setting out how they will do this in their terms of service. Communications regulator Ofcom will have the power to fine companies failing to comply with the law up to 10 percent of their annual global turnover.
The bill is currently at report stage in the House of Commons.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech.
