Revenge porn must be treated like child sex abuse imagery, politician warns

‘We need legal provisions to allow for the rapid blocking of known non-consensual intimate image abuse content, akin to how child exploitation content is handled,’ Caroline Nokes says

Caroline Nokes, a Conservative MP, urged the government and the watchdog Ofcom to force platforms to remove revenge porn material (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)

Revenge porn must be treated with the same seriousness as child sex abuse imagery, a senior politician has warned.

Caroline Nokes, a Conservative MP who chairs parliament’s women and equalities committee, urged the government and the watchdog Ofcom to force platforms to remove revenge porn material.

Ms Nokes said the imagery or footage needs to be taken down immediately after it is reported or unearthed to stop it being disseminated as she also called for internet service providers to block the content.

It comes after The Independent recently reported tens of thousands of revenge porn images and footage cannot be removed from the internet due to a “loophole” in the law.

Research by the Revenge Porn Helpline found the internet currently has 30,000 website pages containing intimate image abuse material which they can’t take down. 

Ms Nokes has now written to cabinet ministers and Ofcom in the wake of the women and equalities committee’s inquiry into revenge porn.

But Rishi Sunak’s shock announcement a snap election will be held on 4 July has blocked the committee from publishing their report.  

Ms Nokes raised concerns “inadequacies in the current legislative framework” on revenge porn “can have life-changing and life-threatening consequences” in her letter.

Ms Nokes said: “Non-consensual intimate image abuse content needs to be treated with the same severity as child abuse material, we need legal provisions to allow for the rapid blocking of known non-consensual intimate image abuse content, akin to how child exploitation content is handled, facilitating more immediate and effective responses.

“I urge the next government and Ofcom, as regulator, to take the steps necessary to require platforms remove non-consensual intimate image content and for them to do so as soon as it is reported or discovered to prevent its spread, and for internet service providers to block it.”

Ms Nokes also called for the Ministry of Justice to broaden the remit of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to enable “claims from victims of sexual offences perpetrated online,” adding “specifically” for revenge porn victims.

“During our inquiry, we met with multiple victims of non-consensual intimate image abuse, including campaigner, broadcaster and TV personality Georgia Harrison who gave formal evidence to the committee,” the politician said.

“The people we spoke to, and those who provided us with written testimony, described the far-reaching impact that the sharing of non-consensual images online has had and continues to have on their lives, their confidence and their relationships.”

It comes after campaigners recently told The Independent that tech platforms can refuse to remove content due to not being legally obliged to do so as they called for ministers to urgently overhaul the law in this area.

Researchers at the helpline found around 10 per cent of reported instances of intimate image abuse material remain online, even if the perpetrator has been convicted for sharing the content.

Sophie Mortimer, a manager at the helpline, said: “Sharing intimate images without consent is illegal, but the content itself is not illegal, so some platforms simply don’t cooperate with our request to remove imagery and footage.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Science Innovation and Technology has been contacted for comment.