The United Kingdom has made cyberflashing (sending unsolicited **** images) a Priority Offence under its Online Safety Act. This shifts the legal responsibility from the victim to the platform. Platforms must now proactively prevent this content rather than just react to reports from victims. The change will affect dating apps like Bumble and Tinder and social media platforms like Instagram and X.
Companies are now required to implement automated AI systems to detect, blur, or hide unsolicited nudes before they reach a user’s inbox. To enforce this, Ofcom has been empowered to levy big fines or block the service entirely in the UK for non-compliance. The fines can go as high as 10% of a firm’s qualifying worldwide revenue.
To prepare for enforcement, Ofcom will now begin consulting on specific codes of practice to define the technical standards platforms must meet. This will likely involve input from the affected businesses and groups pushing for these rules to find a suitable outcome.
By enforcing filtering of nudes, the government is working towards one of its key pillars in its ten-year strategy to halve violence against women and girls. Government reports suggest that a third of teenage girls in England have received unsolicited ****** images. The Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips emphasized that the internet is not a “law-free zone” and in the UK the internet is really being tightened up.
The government highlighted Bumble’s Private Detector AI as an example of existing technology that identifies nudes and blurs the image, giving users more control. Under the new rules, other platforms will have to adopt similar or more rigorous safety tools to satisfy the Priority Offence requirements.
For affected businesses, the government says that they should review their moderation tools and content policies immediately to align with the new standards.