Technology firms that do not take down abusive images from their platforms within 48 hours face being blocked from the UK under new rules proposed by the government.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was putting tech companies “on notice” to take down non-consensual intimate images, and will leave “no stone unturned” to protect women and girls.
Companies will be legally required by law to remove the images within 48 hours of them being reported to them.
If they do not, firms could be fined 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue – which could amount to billions of pounds for some major platforms – or have their services banned from the UK.
Ministers say tech firms should take tackling intimate image abuse as seriously as they take tackling terrorist or child sexual abuse material.
The government is making the change through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through parliament.
Media regulator Ofcom is also considering plans to treat non-consensual intimate images as the same as child sexual abuse material, which is digitally marked when found, so that any time they are re-shared, they are automatically taken down.
Additionally, the government says it will publish guidance for internet companies on how to block “rogue websites” that host this content and fall out of reach of the Online Safety Act.
Sir Keir said he would “leave no stone unturned in the fight to protect women from violence and abuse”.
He said the government had already taken “urgent action against chatbots and ‘nudification’ tools”, and that they were “going further, putting companies on notice so that any non-consensual image is taken down in under 48 hours”.
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.”
Shadow technology secretary Julia Lopez said when a similar proposal was put forward by Conservative peer, Baroness Charlotte Owen, Labour had failed to take action.
“Once again, the government is playing catch-up to duck a major backbench rebellion.
“The reality is that, for all the prime minister’s tough rhetoric, he has arrived late to this issue. He does not know what to believe – he only knows what to do to try and survive another week.”
The move follows controversy in January over X’s AI tool, Grok, creating AI images undressing people without their consent.
Creating non-consensual intimate images, including sexually explicit deepfakes, was criminalised earlier this month, and X stopped Grok from creating the images following the outrage.
Other countries are also taking action against X, with Ireland’s data privacy regulator saying on Tuesday that X faces an EU privacy investigation over the non-consensual deepfakes created by Grok.
Earlier this week, Sir Keir announced a crackdown on social media platforms, such as closing a legal loophole to eliminate “vile illegal content created by AI”.
Downing Street has also launched a consultation on measures like an Australian-style ban on under-16s using social media, and is ensuring it is able to implement one quickly if it is recommended.
