Tech firms could face fines if they allow cyberflashing on their platforms, the Government will announce today.
In a bid to protect women and girls, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall will force social media sites and dating apps to detect and remove unwanted sexual content.
She will make cyberflashing – where someone sends unsolicited pictures of their genitals on a digital device – a ‘priority offence’ under the Online Safety Act, against which companies must take proactive measures.
Figures suggest around one in three girls (32 per cent) aged 12 to 18 have received unwanted pictures of male genitals. One in 20 boys of the same age have also been affected, according to a YouGov survey.
Ms Kendall will tell the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today that ‘keeping children safe online is non-negotiable’.
She will say: ‘That is why my first act as Secretary of State was to force social media companies to find and remove content that promotes suicide and self-harm.
‘And today I can announce I will go further. Making cyberflashing a priority offence.
‘So platforms will be required – by law – to detect and remove this material. Because what is illegal offline, must be illegal online.’
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall (above) will force social media sites and dating apps to detect and remove unwanted sexual content in a bid to protect women and girls
Ministers plan to introduce the regulations this autumn.
Cyberflashing became an offence in England and Wales last year with those found guilty facing up to two years in prison.
The legislation followed that of Scotland, who brought the move forward a decade prior, as well as Northern Ireland who did the same at the end of 2023.
In March last year, Nicholas Hawkes became the first person in England and Wales to be jailed under the new law after sending an explicit image of himself to 15-year-old girl and another women. He was sentenced to 66 weeks in prison.
Cyberflashing has also been at the heart of recent debates over the Online Safety Act, which saw Nigel Farage criticised as being ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ for claiming he would scrap the laws.
Labour claimed last month that the Reform UK leader’s plans to bin the Act would have let 90 criminals off the hook.
At the time, Home Office Minister Jess Phillips cited details of people convicted under the Act to claim that Mr Farage’s pledge to scrap it would ensure ‘the internet remains a Wild West’.
She referred to official figures showing that between January and December 2024, at least 90 people had been convicted – including at least 22 custodial sentences – under offences set out in the Act.
That included the conviction against Hawkes for cyberflashing. A 22-year-old man also became the first person to be charged with encouraging self-harm online.
Ms Phillips, who is Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, claimed that Mr Farage was ‘risking the safety of women and girls with his dangerous and irresponsible plans’ to scrap the existing legislation.
Mr Farage said that if Labour really cared about women’s safety, they would tackle the immigration crisis, before admitting that no-one had yet found a solution to policing the internet.
However, he said that a future Reform government would put ‘tech experts’ like the party’s former chairman Zia Yusuf in charge of getting the answers.