Sending unwanted explicit photographs could lead to two years in prison under new laws set to be introduced by the government but a loophole means many men will still get away with it.
The Online Safety Bill will include a new cyberflashing offence to cover offenders sending unsolicited sexual images to people via mediums such as social media, dating apps, Bluetooth and Airdrop. According to research carried out by popular dating app Bumble, 48pc of women aged between 18 and 24-years-old have received an unwanted sexual photo in the past year.
However the Bill only covers offences where it can be proved that the person sent the image for sexual gratification or to cause distress, HullLive reports. This means that a number of cases could fall through the net if the men claimed that they sent the images for a joke or any other reason that is not sexually-motivated, and it could not be proved otherwise.
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Professor Clare McGlynn QC of Durham University, an expert in Cyberflashing, said: “The proposed new law is a welcome first start recognising the serious harms of Cyberflashing. But the Government must go further if the reality is to live up to the rhetoric.
"The current proposal will only cover Cyberflashing where you can prove that the person send the penis images for a laugh, a joke among their friends, to gain kudos. It will also make prosecutions very difficult.
“What we need is a comprehensive, straightforward law based on non-consent. Cyberflashing is alarmingly common. Many studies show that around half of young women are being sent sexually explicit images without their consent and the figures are even higher for those aged under 18.”
Nima Elmi, Head of Public Policy for Europe at Bumble said: “Our research shows that almost half of women aged 18-24 have received a sexual photo they did not ask for in the last year, and this is simply unacceptable. We welcome the Government’s decision to criminalise Cyberflashing on par with indecent exposure as part of the Online Safety Bill.
“Bumble has been taking steps to tackle Cyberflashing for years. We built Private Detector, a safety feature for our products that captures and blurs nude images and have campaigned for new legislation in the US and the UK. This new law is the first step to creating accountability and consequences for this everyday form of harassment that causes victims, predominantly women, to feel distressed, violated, and vulnerable on the internet as a whole.
“However, in order to drive societal change, any new law must be based on non-consent. This means that the offence is based on whether the recipient consented, irrespective of the sender’s intentions. This is the emerging international standard that we’re seeing across the United States, recognising the violating nature of the harm, and making accountability, and enforcement, more likely.”
Alongside the new cyberflashing offence, the Government is set to creating three other new criminal offences through the Bill - including sending abusive emails, social media posts and WhatsApp messages, as well as ‘pile-on’ harassment where many people target abuse at an individual such as in website comment sections.
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