UK Mandates Tech Firms Remove Abusive Images in 48 Hours
The UK government has put forth regulations mandating that tech companies eliminate abusive images from their platforms within a 48-hour timeframe. This proposal comes in the wake of X users inundating the social media site with thousands of AI-generated images of undressed women. The government stated on Wednesday that companies that do not remove the content promptly could face fines of up to 10 percent of their global revenue or risk having their services blocked in the UK. Regulator Ofcom is contemplating the possibility of digitally tagging intimate images of individuals shared without their consent, ensuring their automatic removal, similar to the approach taken with child sexual abuse and terrorism content. “The online world is the front line of the 21st century battle against violence against women and girls. That’s why my government is taking urgent action against chatbots and ‘nudification’ tools,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated in the announcement.
Elon Musk’s X faced significant backlash last month following the utilization of its Grok AI tool to generate and disseminate sexualized images of actual individuals in underwear or bathing suits. Child safety organizations have discovered sexualized AI-generated images of children circulating on the dark web. X has restricted access to Grok and blocked the feature known as “bikini mode” following widespread outcry from governments around the globe, asserting its commitment to removing illegal content from its platform. However, it ignited a regulatory response against the company and fueled a movement aimed at imposing stricter limitations on social media firms in general. Several governments in Europe are currently considering the prohibition of social media for younger teenagers, following the enactment of a law in Australia last year.
In the UK, the act of sharing non-consensual intimate images is already prohibited by law. It is characterized by the sharing of images depicting individuals in a “intimate state,” which may include sexual acts, nudity, or partial nudity, as well as those in a “culturally intimate” context, such as a Muslim woman who has taken off her hijab. The UK is proposing to incorporate new rules as amendments to the crime and policing bill, thereby granting police enhanced powers to implement takedown measures. The UK’s Revenge Porn Helpline, an organization dedicated to helping individuals remove such content, has reported that it achieves success over 90 percent of the time.
However, it notes that platforms do not always comply, and multiple requests may be necessary. “When the team are supporting victims, I am continually reminded that when they want help and support, they want help and support now.” David Wright said in a report “They want their content removed now, not in a few hours or a few days.”
