Government told revenge porn and deepfake laws 'not fit for purpose'

'The law on image-sharing is piecemeal and difficult to navigate,' says Dr Aislinn O'Connell

The government is to be told it needs to introduce stricter laws to tackle image-based sexual abuse such as revenge porn and deepfake pornography.

Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images, or videos, without the consent of the subject, and deepfake pornography is the manipulation of images to make it look like an individual is in a sexual image or video when they are not.

Revenge porn has been illegal in England and Wales since 2015 but the Law Commission, the independent group tasked by Parliament with looking into law reviews, is currently investigating whether the law should be updated.

Deepfake pornography is not illegal in England and Wales.

Law lecturer Dr Aislinn O’Connell, from Royal Holloway University in London, will tell the Law Commission that the law as it stands “isn’t fit for purpose” and should be replaced with a single criminal offence to regulate all taking, making and sharing of intimate images.

O’Connell told The Independent: “The law on image-sharing is piecemeal and difficult to navigate. A single law which covers image-sharing is necessary.”

The academic will present her report, called Image rights and image wrongs, which looked into how the legislation should be changed, when the Law Commission enquiry opens for evidence submissions.

“The non-consensual sharing online of private sexual images (PSIs) is a practice that has expanded in recent years and causes multiple harms to victims.”

She told BBC radio Surrey that the psychological effect of being a victim of revenge porn is “similar to rape or sexual assault” because the affect is so “deep and long-lasting”.

Current legal provisions around image-based sexual abuse classify revenge porn as a “communications offence” not a “sexual offence” and so victims are not granted anonymity.

It also means that there are mitigating factors that require a perpetrator to have been motivated by causing distress or harm to their victim, which O’Connell says should be irrelevant.

She explains: “There needs to be an overarching legal regime, which says if an intimate image of you has been shared there is a way the photograph can be taken down. If that image depicts you, whether it is real or not, you should be able to control reproduction.”

O’Connell says currently the law “cannot keep up with technology” and this will become a more widespread issue as more people share intimate images with sexual partners.

In June, under the previous government, it was announced the Law Commission would examine whether current legislation “is fit to tackle new and evolving types of abusive and offensive communications” and will report back in 2021.

Other countries including France, Germany and Australia have stricter legislation around image-based abuse.

Dr Samantha Pegg, a senior lecturer in sexuality and the law at Nottingham Law School tells The Independent: "It is now widely acknowledged that the offence introduced to tackle the non-consensual disclosure of private sexual images is not providing adequate protection for victims.

"Numerous studies have shown that victims – who are not automatically afforded anonymity - are unwilling to support prosecutions as they are wary of further exposure through the courts. This situation is aggravated by the fact that there is no clear mechanism for the take-down of these images. Victims can turn to civil solutions, but these are often slow, costly and complicated.

"The gaps in the legislation need to be addressed in order to ensure that this abuse of privacy is being effectively dealt with by the criminal law."

Derbyshire Police recently apologised to a victim of revenge porn for failure to bring a case, acknowledging that the crime needs to be better understood by officers.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that a review was taking place of the training and knowledge of officers on the ground.

In 2016/17, there were 465 prosecutions over revenge porn allegations in England and Wales. It is estimated the figures for 2017-2018 will have increased.