New law set to protect dating app users from ‘vile crime’ of cyberflashing
A new law designed to protect dating app users from the “vile crime” of cyber flashing has come into force, placing greater responsibility on tech companies.
The government has highlighted that one in three teenage girls receive unwanted sexual images and has framed the change as part of its wider commitment to tackle online harassment and halve violence against women and girls.
As of Thursday, social media and dating platforms are legally mandated to proactively detect unwanted nude images and prevent them from reaching their users.
This shift makes cyber-flashing a priority offense under the Online Safety Act and goes beyond reactive measures to demand preventative action from companies.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has issued a warning that platforms that fail to comply with the new legislation could face serious fines of up to 10 per cent of their global revenues and even have their services blocked across the UK.
Communications watchdog Ofcom will consult on new codes of practice setting out what steps platforms should take to protect users, but the methods are expected to include automated systems to detect and hide such images in advance, stricter content policies and moderation tools.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said: “We will soon be consulting on updates to our code of practice to reflect this change in the law and will hold platforms to account to protect people from this despicable crime.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “We’ve brought down the perpetrators of this heinous crime – now we’re stepping up the pressure on tech companies. “Platforms are now required by law to detect and block this material.
“The internet should be a space where women and girls feel safe, respected and able to thrive.”
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said cyberflashing was “yet another humiliating abuse that women and girls have been expected to endure” for too long.
He added: “By putting the onus on tech companies to block this disgusting content before users see it, we are preventing harm to women and girls first.
“We will use the full power of the state to make this country safe for women and girls, both online and offline.”
Dating app Bumble has become the first app to explicitly police cyberflashing through an AI-powered feature that automatically detects and blurs nudity in images sent within chats, allowing the user to choose to view, block or report it, and has welcomed the change in the law.
Elymae Cedeno, the app’s vice president of trust and security, said: “Receiving unsolicited sexual images is a daily violation that disproportionately affects women and undermines their sense of security online.
“Strengthening the law to make cyber flashing a priority offense is an important step towards ensuring platforms proactively address this behavior to better protect their members.”
The change comes in the same week that Ms Kendall called on Elon Musk’s X to urgently deal with the use of AI chatbot Grok to create sexualized deepfake images of people, including children.
He backed Ofcom, the regulator investigating X and xAI, the firm founded by Mr Musk and which created Grok, to take “any enforcement action” deemed necessary.
Users of social media platform X appear to have encouraged Grok to create images of “minimally dressed” children.
Tech mogul Mr Musk has previously insisted that “anyone using Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they had uploaded illegal content”.
X said it would take action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, “by removing such content, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement where necessary.”
