Election day is almost upon us. Tomorrow (Thursday, 4 July), millions of Brits will head to their local polling station to decide who will be the UK's next prime minister. Will it be Labour's Sir Keir Starmer or current Conservative PM Rishi Sunak?
Regardless of who walks into 10 Downing Street on Friday, GLAMOUR – along with the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn – will demand they do everything in their power to stop image-based-abuse, starting with the introduction of a dedicated, comprehensive Image-Based Abuse law.
The law – as a starting point – must include the following commitments:
1. Strengthen criminal laws about creating, taking and sharing intimate images without consent (including sexually explicit deepfakes)
2. Improve civil laws for survivors to take action against perpetrators and tech companies
3. Prevent image-based abuse through comprehensive relationships, sex and health education
4. Fund specialist services that provide support to victims and survivors of image-based abuse
5. Create an Online Abuse Commission to hold tech companies accountable for image-based abuse
Ahead of the general election, we reached out to Sir Keir Starmer and PM Rishi Sunak to ask if they'd support our campaign. Here, we spoke with Rishi Sunak about whether he'd change the criminal and civil laws to support survivors and hold tech and social media companies accountable for profiting from image-based abuse.
You can read our interview with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in full below…
GLAMOUR: If you’re elected, will you commit to introducing an Image-Based Abuse Bill, in line with what we and the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), Not Your Porn, and Clare McGlynn are campaigning for? Yes or no?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: To start, I want to be clear that protecting women and girls online is really important to me, and I absolutely want to get this right. Like every other parent I know, I worry about what my children will encounter online, and so thinking about this as a parent, as well as a politician, has shaped some of the steps we’ve taken in government.
We have done an enormous amount of work in recent years, but I recognise it’s an evolving problem as technology moves fast, so it will be something we keep having to look at to stay one step ahead. I hope your readers may have heard about the Online Safety Act, which for the first time holds tech platforms like Meta and YouTube accountable for the harm they can cause users. It also explicitly makes cyberflashing a criminal offence. It was a very difficult piece of legislation to get right because we must balance concerns about freedom of speech online with protecting people from harmful content, but I’m proud that Britain passed this legislation which puts us far ahead of most other countries, and the measures are starting to come into force now.
If I’m re-elected, we will go further in the next Parliament, passing laws which create new offences for creating sexualised deepfake images, taking intimate images without consent, and for spiking. Building on our Domestic Abuse Act, we will also continue tackling violence against women and girls with a range of measures, including supporting policing, monitoring offenders, and introducing tougher sentences and new offences to ensure victims get the justice they deserve. To me, it’s absolutely critical we make both the offline and online world safer for women and girls, and we won’t rest until we achieve that.
Our verdict: In an ideal world, we'd hope that the Prime Minister would be more willing to commit to a specific, comprehensive Image-Based Abuse Bill.
The PM cites the Online Safety Act as holding tech platforms accountable for the harm caused by image-based abuse.
Rebecca Hitchen, campaign partner and Head of Policy & Campaigns at EVAW, notes that the Online Safety Act "doesn’t go far enough, and the regulator Ofcom isn’t strong enough to take on the tech giants profiting from abuse.
“This is why we need a specific Online Abuse Commission that can have a singular focus on online abuse, hold tech companies to account, as well as driving forward prevention work, media literacy and support for individual survivors.”
While it's encouraging to see the PM commit to criminalising the creation of non-consensual deepfakes, as well as introducing new offences for taking intimate images without consent, what we really need is for the government to collate these offences into one exhaustive piece of legislation e.g. an Image-Based Abuse Act.
In partnership with the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
GLAMOUR: What more can you do with social media companies to hold them accountable for intimate image abuse?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: We have laid a strong foundation with the Online Safety Act which I’ve mentioned, which bans the sharing of intimate images – and even threatening to share them – without consent. We will build on these protections by passing laws that ban the taking of intimate images without consent (often referred to as upskirting) and the installation of camera and video equipment to capture such images without consent.
Additionally, we will work closely with regulators to enforce stricter compliance – to make sure that social media companies proactively prevent and remove illegal content. Where they fail to uphold their responsibilities, they face substantial fines of up to 10%of their global turnover and, in certain circumstances, criminal charges. These are extremely significant sanctions for businesses, so I am confident they will work in making these companies prioritise safety.
Our verdict: The Online Safety Act is a starting point, but we're not sure it's a strong foundation. As Elena Micheal, campaign partner and Director of Not Your Porn tells GLAMOUR, “The key asks of our campaign identify crucial gaps not covered by current legislation – if the current legislation was tackling image-based abuse so well, supporting survivors and preventing avoidable harm, we wouldn’t be asking for them.”
Professor Clare McGlynn adds, “The Online Safety Act does not unfortunately 'force' social media companies to remove non-consensual imagery. The platforms have to try to reduce harms and unlawful content but whether they do so relies on a strong regulator like Ofcom making this a priority and ensuring they act.
“Also, there are many websites that refuse to remove harmful material, even after a criminal conviction. This is why we support the Revenge Porn Helpline's call for a clear law enabling those websites to be blocked.”
We need comprehensive image-based abuse laws – and we need them now.
GLAMOUR: How do you plan to improve civil laws so that survivors can take action against perpetrators and tech companies?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: That’s a good question. I recognise the importance of supporting and empowering survivors. Our Online Safety Act already forces social media companies to remove illegal material and protect users, and as I say, they face severe consequences if they do not abide by the law.
As Conservatives, we will always stand with survivors and make sure we have the necessary tools in place to deliver justice for them, holding accountable those who perpetrate these crimes and social media companies that fail to live up to their responsibilities. And with regards to civil action against perpetrators, someone posting intimate images of another person without their consent would commit a civil wrong of breach of privacy and could therefore be sued. As a final thought, I think a key part of tackling this issue is raising awareness that these sort of actions are crimes and will be punished – so if someone shares intimate images of you without consent, you are not alone and please report it.
Our verdict: While the Prime Minister is right that it is possible to sue a perpetrator at the moment for a breach of privacy, this is a complicated and expensive process that isn't accessible to most victims and survivors.
As campaign partner Professor Clare McGlynn explains, "We want a new, swift online court process – as in other countries like Canada – that means not just suing for compensation, but makes orders to delete and remove images and videos.
“The Prime Minister is very hopeful that the Online Safety Act will solve some of these issues. Unfortunately, this rhetoric does not match the reality of what's actually in the legislation and how the regulator Ofcom is acting.
“If we truly are to ban non-consensual intimate images, we need a strong Online Safety Commission to be proactive, to challenge social media companies and to act on behalf of survivors to demand and order change.”
The PM says that the Conservatives will always stand with survivors. In response, campaign partner Elena Micheal notes, "If you stand with survivors, then it means listening to their experiences.
“Our campaign has been designed from the loopholes and gaps survivors have to navigate. Therefore, if you truly stand with survivors, you should be committing to our asks.”
Revenge Porn Helpline provides advice, guidance and support to victims of intimate image-based abuse over the age of 18 who live in the UK. You can call them on 0345 6000 459.
The Cyber Helpline provides free, expert help and advice to people targeted by online crime and harm in the UK and USA.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.
