Women and Equalities Committee hears from Ministers on intimate image abuse

Last week (Wednesday 20th November), the Women and Equalities Committee held its second public session of this parliament on tackling non-consensual intimate image abuse (NCII) as Parliament continues examining the drivers of and responses to this abuse*.

These sessions provide an important opportunity for the committee to scrutinise the current context for women and girls subjected to intimate image abuse following the introduction of the Online Safety Act, as well as the new government’s plans in this area.

The session heard from Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor Lorna Woods and Sam Millar, Assistant Chief Constable of the National Police Chiefs Council.

They then heard from Minister for Victims and VAWG, Alex Davies Jones MP, and Minister for Safeguarding and VAWG, Jess Phillips MP. An overview of their previous session is here, and they have also heard evidence from survivors in private.

Both panels accepted that the current outlook for victims and survivors of image-based abuse is often poor and that the implementation of legislation, the policing response, and routes to redress are often inconsistent and inadequate. However, despite probing by the Committee, there were few answers given by Ministers about what is set to change for the better in the near future.

EVAW and partners #NotYourPorn, Glamour UK and Professor Clare McGlynn are calling for a new image-based abuse law which includes legislationto (criminalise the creation of deepfakes, improved civil routes to justice for survivors, prevention through quality relationships and sex education in schools, funding for life-saving specialist services, and a specific regulator to deal with online abuse.

Inadequate laws are failing victims

During the first panel, Professors Clare McGlynn and Lorna Woods highlighted the impact of limitations in existing law; warning how a narrow interpretation of the Online Safety Act means that the act of hosting illegal images is not unlawful and that service providers are not currently required to remove all instances of NCII.

Both professors agreed that the regulator Ofcom’s powers in this area are inadequate, with Clare McGlynn recommending the introduction of an e-safety commissioner based on the Australian model. The commissioner would be responsible for blocking websites that refuse to take down abuse imagery and would have the power to bring cases on behalf of individuals.

The first panel also looked at the important role of civil orders in having abuse materials taken down and kept down, or platforms blocked: a key part of our image-based abuse law campaign.

Lorna Woods explained that the current civil law routes are inadequate as they are expensive and require victims to go to the high court, while Clare McGlynn highlighted the Canadian model in which women could use easy and inexpensive online systems to receive a court order.

In terms of policing online violence against women and girls, Assistant Chief Constable Samantha Miller highlighted how “the system is failing”, with a lack of capacity and inconsistency of practice across police forces that don’t have an infrastructure set up to deal with online harm.

Lack of action and clarity from government

In the second panel Minister Davies-Jones MP and Minister Phillips MP made repeated reference to waiting to take action until after Ofcom has consulted on its guidance and the current law has been implemented.

The Ministers did agree that if Ofcom isn’t acting as the government would like then they’ll take action, but no clear timeframe was given for further action. When asked specifically on this point given the ‘alarming frequency’ of crimes happening now, Minister Davies-Jones stated they are having ‘close conversations with colleagues in DSIT’ (the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology). In contrast to the Professors, Minister Davies-Jones suggested that there are a range of civil actions available and pointed instead to the Victim’s Code.

Minister Davies-Jones did say the government is looking at gaps that need to be closed, and reiterated its manifesto commitment to address deepfakes in legislation ‘this session’. Minister Phillips also acknowledged the important role of education – a key plank of our campaign – and relayed that this is an area that has stalled. Phillips positively emphasised the importance of prevention to the new government, but we await further details on what action the government is set to take.

Minister Phillips was unable to commit to the funding of the Revenge Porn Helpline, whose caseload has increased tenfold in the last four years but whose funding is currently up in March.

Disappointingly, the Chair noted the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology were invited to the panel but did not attend.

ENDS

*Image-based abuse includes taking, creating, sharing, or threatening to share intimate or sexual images or videos of a person without their consent constitutes abuse. This abuse often takes place without the victim’s knowledge, and includes digitally altered images (sexually explicit deepfakes) and acts commonly referred to as upskirting, downblousing, so-called ‘revenge porn’, collector culture and many other forms of abuse.