Revenge porn threats ‘should be made illegal’

THREATS to share revenge porn must be made illegal, a former culture secretary has said.

Baroness Morgan of Cotes urged the House of Lords to take steps to protect those threatened with the sharing of intimate images online.

Her Conservative coll eague Baroness Scott of Bybrook argued that this was covered by existing offences tackling revenge pornography, although she added that the law was being reviewed “to ensure victims are properly protected”.

However, Lady Morgan said: “I don’t think that it is clear that threats to share intimate images online are covered in law. We know that perpetrators of domestic abuse are increasingly using technology and the internet to abuse and control their partners/ex-partners.

“One in s even young women have experienced this form of abuse.”

She called on the Government to make changes to the Domestic Abuse Bill “to outlaw threats to share intimate images”, rather than await the outcome of the Law Commission review, which is looking at current legislation relating to revenge pornography.

Meanwhile, two former ministers pressed the Government to take steps to tackle the malicious use of technology that can create fabricated images.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot, a f ormer digital minister, asked if the Government was as “concerned as I am about the exponential rise in the use of deep fakes, which are currently overwhelmingly used i n pornography? It means an image can be created to humiliate a victim without that image being real”.

Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford, a former Tory minister, also raised concerns over technology being used to produce undressed photos of clothed women.

Lady Scott said: “The Government absolutely agrees that it is important that we ensure that the criminal law is keeping up with the constant changes in technology and the use of social media in all its forms. That’s why the Law Commission review of the law relating to taking, making and sharing intimate images specifically includes deep fakes.”