Reports of image-based sexual abuse and explicit deepfakes to the Metropolitan Police have more than doubled over the past five years, according to new figures, as the Home Office pledges to intensify efforts against offenders. The Metropolitan Police recorded a 120 percent increase in complaints related to non-consensual intimate image abuse (NCII), based on Freedom of Information data obtained by online safety provider Verifymy. The safety firm cautioned that the swift proliferation of AI-powered “nudification” tools, which digitally remove clothing from photographs, is facilitating the creation and distribution of realistic, sexually explicit images without consent.
Sharp Increase in Complaints
In Greater London, 1,766 NCII complaints were lodged last year, marking a 17 percent rise from 1,523 in the preceding year and more than double the 805 complaints recorded in 2020, according to Metropolitan Police data reviewed by The Independent. These developments come months after Ofcom launched an investigation into the Grok AI chatbot on X, which has been used to generate and disseminate sexual deepfakes of real individuals, including minors.
AI-Generated Child Abuse Content Surges
The Internet Watch Foundation reported just last week that in 2025, there had been a more than 260-fold increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse videos compared to the previous year. Video models, nudification applications, subscription platforms, and agentic AI systems are enabling offenders to produce and distribute illegal content on a large scale, the watchdog warned, allowing them to manipulate images of real children and simulate explicit conversations with child characters.
New Legislation to Combat NCII
Under the new Crime and Policing Bill, currently in its final legislative stages, social media platforms will be required to remove any non-consensual images reported within 48 hours. Platforms that fail to comply risk substantial fines or having their services blocked in the United Kingdom. Additionally, nudification tools used for AI deepfakes will be banned under the new regulations.
Victims of NCII will have up to three years to report the crime, a significant extension from the current six-month window.
Experts Call for Platform Action
While the Crime and Policing Bill is poised to clamp down on NCII, experts warn that platforms must do more to address the escalating harm. Emma Robert-Tissot, Head of Partnerships at Verifymy, stated: “In an era of hyper-realistic image generation, everyone should have control over how their identity is used and represented online. Consent management that supports this is no longer a technical consideration; it is a fundamental right. While content moderation plays an important role, it cannot identify all forms of non-consensual intimate image abuse, particularly as synthetic content becomes more advanced. Platforms must therefore adopt a more holistic approach—combining prevention, consent, and detection—to effectively tackle this growing harm.”
Met Police Response
Commenting on the FOI findings, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that technology firms need to crack down on methods of NCII offending. “Non-consensual intimate image abuse can have a devastating and lasting impact on victims. The online world is changing rapidly, and reporting of this type of offending has increased significantly over the past five years,” they said. “We continue to strengthen our response to tech-enabled abuse by bolstering specialist teams and investing in new technology. This includes technology that allows officers to review large volumes of messaging and an NCII toolkit providing vital information on what this abuse looks like and its impact on victims to enable police to improve their response. While using technologies and working alongside our safeguarding partners to provide support for victims, we continue our call to tech firms to design out these methods of offending.”
Government Statement
A government spokesperson said: “Sharing or creating intimate images without consent is a vile crime, and we are taking immediate action to tackle this growing issue. We have made the creation of intimate images without consent a crime with up to six months in prison, and we are banning AI tools which generate deepfake sexual images of people without consent, with developers and suppliers facing up to three years in prison.”
