Tech chiefs face jail for failing to take down vile photographs in main crackdown
A new online crackdown will ban incest porn and make senior managers criminally liable if their platforms fail to comply with orders to remove non-consensual images
The Government has tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to crack down on abuse of women and girls online(Image: PA)
Top brass at porn companies could face prison sentences if they fail to take down intimate images shared without consent.
The Government has tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to crack down on abuse of women and girls online, making senior managers criminally liable if their platforms fail to comply with Ofcom’s orders to remove non-consensual images without reasonable excuse.
Pornography depicting incest and adults roleplaying as children will also be criminalised.
Home Office Minister Jess Phillips said tech firms and abusers have “carried on making money while women pay the price” as AI is used at industrial scale to create and spread fake sexual images without consent.
Writing in the Mirror, Ms Phillips said: “The creation and sharing of these images can have devastating impact on survivors. For too long, those responsible for hosting and profiting from this vile content have avoided responsibility. That must end now.”
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She added: “Let me be absolutely clear: This is sexual abuse. It is violence against women and girls. And it is happening online at industrial scale.”
Tech execs could be held personally liable if platforms fail to comply with Ofcom’s enforcement decisions to remove vile images that have been shared without consent. Senior execs who commit the offence without a reasonable excuse could be liable to imprisonment or a fine, or both.
Possessing or publishing content that shows incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18 will be banned.
And a further amendment will criminalise the publication and possession of pornography where an adult is roleplaying as a child. The offences come with a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment for publication.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “Too many women have had their lives shattered by having their intimate images shared online without consent.
“This Government is uncompromising in our mission to protect women and girls online, and we have taken action to stop tech firms from publishing this abusive content.
“In February we told platforms that they must remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours. Now we are going further by introducing measures meaning that senior tech executives could be criminally liable if their companies fail to act when required to do so by Ofcom.
“Protecting women and girls online is not optional, it is a responsibility that sits squarely with every tech company’s leadership.”
Baroness Bertin, Lead reviewer of the Independent Pornography Review, said: “I greatly welcome the Government’s plans to fully address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and the mimicking of child sexual abuse.
“This content that is freely and widely available online is deeply harmful, normalising child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families.”
