Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, has written to online service providers setting out the government’s expectations of the providers’ role in halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade.
In the open letter, Kendall sets out the steps the government expects the providers to take, including conducting risk assessments that focus on harms to women and girls, conducting ‘abusability’ evaluations before launching new features and services, and setting strong and customisable default settings around user interaction and privacy.
User-generated content that promotes misogynistic abuse and sexual violence must be demonetised, and the prominence of the material reduced in search results, with rate limits implemented to prevent abusive mass-posting.
“This government has made an unprecedented commitment to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade,” the secretary of state wrote.
She added:
“We have strengthened the criminal law and online regulatory framework to make online spaces safer for women and girls. We have announced new offences to outlaw harmful practices in pornography such as strangulation and semen-defacing images.
“And we are creating the most robust framework globally to tackle intimate image abuse. It is already a criminal offence to share, or even threaten to share, a sexually explicit deepfake without consent. But this government has gone further: by making these priority offences under the Online Safety Act, I am ensuring that all relevant services must take steps to prevent this content from appearing online and to remove it swiftly if it does.”
The non-consensual creation of sexually explicit deepfake images has been a criminal offence since 6 February and is being urgently designating as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act.
Kendall continued:
“I am also tackling the use of AI tools to create non-consensual intimate images. We have introduced amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to ban ‘nudification’ tools – AI technology that can transform ordinary images into fake nude pictures and videos, without the person’s consent – and to bring all AI chatbots into scope of the Online Safety Act’s illegal content duties. We are putting victims first.”
Further measures outlined by Kendall in the open letter include the removal of non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours so victims don’t have to report the same image multiple times.
“No-one should have to report the same image again and again, often never receiving a response,” Kendal told the tech companies.
“But our mission to halve violence against women and girls also requires a truly transformational approach to how we respond to this issue across every part of society. Your platforms play a key part here. So, I am calling on you to step up to this challenge and help us make the digital world a place where everyone can participate safely and confidently.”
All platforms are expected to implement Ofcom’s guidance to identify and remove gender-based online harms, including misogynistic abuse and sexual violence, pile-ons and coordinated harassment, stalking and coercive control, and image-based sexual abuse.
“I know you do not want this kind of content on your sites,” Kendal wrote.
She concluded:
“I know that tech companies have the ability and the technical tools to block and delete online misogyny. We must not fail to act and let another generation down on this critical issue.
“So my message is simple: make your platforms safer for women and girls. I will monitor your progress closely to ensure change is delivered on this critical agenda. Women and girls should be able to be online without fear of violence, abuse or misogyny. Tech companies have a responsibility to make this happen.”
