Tech firms will have 48 hours to remove abusive images under a new UK law. The proposed law aims to tackle intimate image abuse with the same severity as child sexual abuse material and terrorist content.
The government has announced that tech platforms would have to remove intimate images shared without consent within 48 hours. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to 10% of their global sales or have their services blocked in the UK.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated that this is part of an “ongoing battle” with platform providers on behalf of victims. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said the move “rightly places the responsibility on tech companies to act”.
The proposals are being made through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Lords. Under the plans, victims would only have to flag an image once, rather than contacting different platforms separately.
Tech companies would have to block the images from being re-uploaded once they have been taken down. The proposal would also provide guidance for internet service providers to block access to sites hosting illegal content.
Women, girls, and LGBT people are disproportionately affected by Intimate Image Abuse (IIA). A government report in July 2025 found that young men and boys were largely targeted for financial sexual extortion, sometimes referred to as “sextortion”.
A Parliamentary report published in May 2025 highlighted an increase of 20.9% in reports of intimate image abuse in 2024. The prime minister noted that tech companies are already under a duty to remove terrorist material, and this can be done with the same mechanism.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said, “The days of tech firms having a free pass are over… no woman should have to chase platform after platform, waiting days for an image to come down”.
The announcement comes after the government’s standoff with X in January, when an AI tool was used to generate images of real women wearing very little clothing. Legislation was brought in earlier in February which made non-consensual deepfake images illegal in the UK.
