London: Technology companies are being warned by the UK Government to take urgent and comprehensive action to protect women and girls from online abuse, the UK. Speaking at a roundtable with major platforms including Snapchat, Meta, YouTube, and TikTok, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall emphasized that inaction is no longer acceptable.
The roundtable on 9 March highlighted the government's determination to reduce online harms and its commitment to halving violence against women and girls over the next decade.
The Secretary of State urged tech firms to implement robust safety measures without delay, using every tool at their disposal to prevent harassment, misogyny, and image-based abuse.
Intimate image abuse, cyberflashing, and choking are now priority offences under the Online Safety Act, carrying the same legal weight as child abuse and terrorism. Platforms are legally required to block this content proactively.
Recent fast-tracked laws also outlaw non-consensual intimate deepfakes and "nudification apps," AI tools that create synthetic sexualised images without consent. Platforms must remove intimate images shared without permission within 48 hours of being flagged, shifting responsibility from victims to companies.
Regulator Ofcom has issued guidance to platforms recommending measures to curb online misogyny and harassment, these suggested steps include prompts encouraging users to rethink harmful posts, limiting coordinated attacks, strengthening privacy settings, and using hash-matching to prevent the spread of abusive content.
The government has asked Ofcom to report quickly on compliance, helping users make informed choices about which platforms are safe.
John Lucey, VP EMEA at Cellebrite commented: "Many forms of online abuse, including image-based exploitation and harassment, leave complex digital trails across devices, applications and platforms and accessing and analysing that data quickly and responsibly is essential to understanding what happened and protecting victims."
"Digital intelligence technologies play a vital role in helping law enforcement securely collect and analyse data while preserving evidential integrity. When supported by strong governance, transparency and auditability, these capabilities can help investigators uncover patterns of harmful behaviour, build stronger cases and ensure critical digital evidence can stand up in court."
