Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that technology firms must remove deepfake nudes and “revenge porn” within 48 hours or face being blocked in the UK. Describing online misogyny as a “national emergency”, Starmer said companies could be fined millions or have their services blocked if they allow such images to spread after being notified by victims.
The measures will be introduced as amendments to the crime and policing bill, and will also regulate AI chatbots like X’s Grok, which generated nonconsensual images until the government threatened action. Writing in the Guardian, Starmer stated: “The burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims. It must fall on perpetrators and on the companies that enable harm.”
Government sources expect Ofcom to enforce the new powers by summer. Platforms failing to act within 48 hours could face fines of up to 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue. Victims will be able to flag images directly to tech firms or Ofcom, which will trigger alerts across multiple platforms to prevent repeated reporting.
Ofcom will explore digital watermarking for intimate images to enable automatic flagging when reposted. Internet providers will receive guidance on blocking hosting for rogue sites specialising in nonconsensual explicit content. Creating or sharing such images will become a “priority offence” under the Online Safety Act, placing it on par with child abuse images or terrorism.
Starmer emphasised that institutional misogyny has led to the problem being minimised, adding: “Too often, those victims have been left to fight alone… That is not justice. It is failure.” The 48-hour timeline is considered feasible, though some experts note it may not incentivise faster responses from companies.
