A comprehensive list of recommendations for strengthening protections on online pornography has been published today and delivered to the Government. These recommendations, if implemented, represent a significant contribution to Government’s stated ambition to tackle violence against women and girls whilst increasing accountability on platforms, protecting those who are most vulnerable to harm, strengthening enforcement and improving governance. We are supportive of these recommendations as they support our objective to reduce harm online and the focus now falls on Government to implement them.
We have highlighted specific areas below where we are committed to actively engage in order to improve protections.
Mandatory Technology to Identify and Remove IIA
‘’Companies hosting pornographic content should be required to use proactive technology to identify and remove intimate image abuse (IIA) content.’’
As part of the initiative to ‘future proof’ against evolving tech, the recommendation for online platforms to use technology in the fight against intimate image abuse is the ethos on which our own tool StopNCII.org was built. We strongly advocate for the mandatory requirement for all online platforms that enable the uploading and sharing of content to adopt StopNCII.org to protect their users against intimate image abuse online. With hundreds of thousands of cases every year, StopNCII.org is seen as the only global solution that proactively responds to the spread of NCII images. It is essential that this recommendation be adopted and actioned by Ofcom as the Online Safety Regulator with immediate effect.
Exploring Technology to Combat AI Generated NCII/ CSAM
“Government should urgently explore what proactive technology could be most effective to identify and tackle deepfake/ AI-generated IIA and CSAM. “
As part of our commitment to ensure that protections are kept in line with technological advancements, we are committed to work with the Government to explore improvements in hash matching technologies for synthetic sexual content. We would also like to see the inclusion of hash sharing across industry platforms to identify instances of NCII (including synthetic media) in an effort to streamline our global approach towards removing content.
Enforcement of an Ombudsman
‘’An ombudsman or Commission should be set up to receive reports and give support following incidents of intimate image abuse (IIA), abuse, control, coercion, and trafficking in the pornography sector. This body would act as mediator between victims and police, health and support services to ensure victims are accessing the services and support they need.’’
The Revenge Porn Helpline at SWGfL has been actively “receiving reports and giving support following incidents of intimate image abuse (IIA),” since 2015. We are all too aware how crucial swift, effective and compassionate support is in ensuring the safety and protection of users online.
Through extensive victim support, we have successfully reduced the impact of this devastating crime for thousands of people, actioning the removal of over 380,000 intimate images whilst supporting emotional wellbeing. The Revenge Porn Helpline has long standing experience of working with the police to provide support towards criminal investigations whilst also providing critical support to victims/survivors in removing online content. We therefore fully support this recommendation.
Strengthening Awareness and Training
“Specialised training should be given to ensure support services are equipped to effectively support victims of intimate image abuse (IIA).”
We feel this is a long overdue recommendation ‘’Of the 170 clients who had already contacted the police, approximately 70% reported having a negative experience.” (RPH Annual Report 2023). The Revenge Porn Helpline has been delivering training for key stakeholders since 2015 but the mandatory requirement for police and health services to improve their understanding of IIA will strengthen the support for victims to a significant degree. We strongly advocate for training requirements to be delivered by the Revenge Porn Helpline.
David Wright CBE (CEO of SWGfL) – ‘’The list of recommendations is extensive, ambitious and very much welcomed. It is a positive and timely initiative that we strongly encourage the Government to act upon and adopt. Many of the focusses highlighted are areas in which we have been actively working for many years through our work with the Revenge Porn Helpline and StopNCII.org. It is positive to see many of the recommendations around NCII align with the detection and removal of CSAM, where we stand alongside our partners at the IWF. This timely announcement shows these requirements are now more essential than ever in order to make our online landscapes safer.’'
