SWGfL attended a session at parliament on Wednesday 6th November to share their insights on intimate image abuse with the Women and Equalities Committee. David Wright CBE, CEO of SWGfL and Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, along with Sophie Mortimer, Revenge Porn Helpline Manager at SWGfL, presented evidence detailing the immense impact of non-consensual intimate image abuse (NCII) and the critical need to modernise current legislation to protect adults facing this form of abuse.

The committee’s inquiry aims to assess whether current laws adequately safeguard victims, explore the actions taken to remove intimate images online, and examine the role of industry partners in addressing intimate image abuse. Watch a recording of the session or learn more about the key points discussed below.

The Impact of Intimate Image Abuse

As the Revenge Porn Helpline continues its campaign for legislative reform around NCII, the committee focused on understanding the scope and consequences of this abuse on individuals’ lives. Reflecting on her experience at the Helpline, Sophie Mortimer emphasised the ‘enormous’ impact NCII has on victims.

Sophie explained, “The impact on victims reaches into every corner of their lives—their personal relationships, work relationships, their ability to go about their lives, go to the shop, go to work, engage with family, and their emotional and psychological well-being. This impact is ongoing because, as that content continues to circulate online, if it cannot be completely removed, then it's there every day, and they'll be re-traumatised every day.”

‘Terrifying’ Increase in NCII Cases

During the session, the committee inquired about the number of cases the Helpline has handled. Sophie revealed that since its inception in 2015, the Revenge Porn Helpline has supported over 24,000 individuals.

David Wright pointed to a significant rise in cases in recent years, noting that while the Helpline managed around 1,600 cases in 2019, by 2023 this number had surged to nearly 19,000—a ten-fold increase that he described as ‘terrifying’.

He cautioned, “We have no idea how big this problem is…. We’re just discovering more of this iceberg, but we don’t know how big this iceberg is.”  -  revealing that there may potentially be hundreds of thousands of victims overall.

Challenges with Law Enforcement

Drawing from their work on the Revenge Porn cases, Sophie shared examples of the frequent challenges individuals face when reporting incidents to law enforcement. She noted that, despite the Helpline’s extensive support, victims often describe negative experiences with police after reporting NCII.

Data from the Helpline shows that negative interactions with law enforcement are four times more common than positive ones. Sophie attributed this to a general lack of familiarity among front-line officers with NCII-specific laws and the practical steps required to apply these laws effectively. She explained, “The sense that many victims come away with is that there is no help, that their content can't be removed from the internet, that perpetrators are rarely prosecuted, and even more rarely, convicted, and that there will be no just outcome for them.”

The Importance of Partnering with StopNCII.org

In addition to the work of the Revenge Porn Helpline, the committee sought to understand the role of StopNCII.org, a tool helping to prevent intimate images from being non-consensually shared across partner platforms

David Wright stressed the importance of additional platforms partnering with StopNCII.org, explaining, “the more platforms engaged with StopNCII, the more fear we can help to discharge from victims.” Although the tool continues to bring on board more platforms, David asserted that there ‘should be thousands’ more to increase its protective reach and impact.

Treating NCII as other Illegal Content

Advocating for updates to current legislation, David and Sophie highlighted the significant gaps in legislation and regulation surrounding NCII abuse and the importance of reclassifying NCII to have the same legal recognition and protections as CSAM. These reclassifications would enable quicker action to remove content, enhance blocking measures, and prevent re-traumatisation by restricting convicted perpetrators’ access to intimate images.

In particular, the committee described the current laws that enable convicted criminals to regain access to their devices with NCII content as ‘shocking’. When asked whether making NCII content illegal in the same way as CSAM content would have an impact on blocking and removing content online, Sophie responded that she believed the sharing of content would ‘stop dead’ and that ‘it would be hugely powerful.’

Moving Forwards

Alongside the Parliamentary committee, the Revenge Porn Helpline continue to advocate for legislative change and the implementation of an NCII register to ensure all adults who have experienced intimate image abuse receive the justice they deserve.

To learn more about the work of the Helpline to tackle intimate image abuse, you can read about their previous visit to Parliament to discuss the challenges of combatting NCII, and why the Revenge Porn Helpline believes it is time to make NCII content illegal.

The Revenge Porn Helpline is dedicated to supporting all adults in the UK who have been affected by intimate image abuse, and can provide support and guidance by contacting 0345 6000 459 or emailing help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk