UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday issued a strict warning against revenge porn, directing social media companies to remove explicit content from their platforms within the next 48 hours.
Calling non-consensual intimate images ‘utterly abhorrent’, the British leader also threatened to block the platforms in the United Kingdom that fail to comply with the government’s orders, he told The Guardian.
Starmer also said that the government acted quickly to stop the misuse of the AI tool Grok after it was known that some users were generating “vile” images using the platform’s image-generating feature.
“Today, we are going further. We are putting social media companies on notice to take down any non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours,” he said in a
He further acknowledged that this is just a first step and that there is much more to do regarding the issue. “Violence against women and girls has no place in our society. We must root it out,” he added.
What actions will be taken for non-compliance?
As per the guardian report, social media companies could face fines running into millions or even be blocked in the UK altogether if they fail to remove non-consensual intimate images after victims formally give notice.
He said the platforms would be held accountable if such content continues to spread or is reposted despite clear notice from those affected, underscoring the government’s push for stricter enforcement and faster resolution.
The UK leader further added that amendments will be made to the crime and policing bill to also regulate AI chatbots such as
“The burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims. It must fall on perpetrators and on the companies that enable harm, he told the news outlet.
Grok AI has faced mounting criticism and regulatory scrutiny in several other countries for its ability to generate sexualised and non-consensual images of women, including Ireland, India, Malaysia, as well as European Union.
How can victims flag such content?
Victims of revenge porn will be able to report the images either directly to tech companies or to the Office of Communications (Ofcom), according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Once a complaint is made, an alert can be sent across multiple platforms to help ensure the images are taken down more quickly and not reshared elsewhere.
Ofcom, an independent regulatory and competition authority for the UK’s communications industries, has been given the responsibility for enforcing the ban on such images, with the aim of removing the onus on victims to report the same image potentially thousands of times as it is continually reposted, the Guardian reported.
