Campaign win: tech platforms must remove abusive images within 48 hours

Today (18th February 2026) the government has announced measures requiring tech platforms to take down intimate images shared without a victim’s consent within 48 hours.

Through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, companies will be legally required to remove this content no more than 48 hours after it is flagged to them. Platforms that fail to act could face fines of up to 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue or having their services blocked in the UK.

This welcome move is the result of campaigning by survivors of image-based abuse, including non-consensual deepfakes, such as Jodie* and campaigners including the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Revenge Porn Helpline, survivor-campaign group #NotYourPorn, world-leading expert Professor Clare McGlynn, and Glamour UK.

Jodie’s petition calling for action on image-based abuse secured the support of 73,000 members of the public and has been instrumental in the creation of new laws to criminalise this abuse and hold tech companies accountable for facilitating and profiting from it.

Responding to the announcement, Janaya Walker, Interim Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“This is a welcome and powerful move to uphold women and girls’ rights when faced with image-based sexual abuse. This abuse – and the threat of it – has a chilling effect on our participation in public life. 

 This announcement rightly places the responsibility on tech companies to act. It is the tech companies who have profited from this harm. And it is thanks to the work of survivors and campaigners who have fought hard for government to hold tech companies to account. 

 We now need to see government go a step further and implement a mandatory code of practice on violence against women and girls that requires platforms to take proactive action to prevent abuse.”

ENDS

*Name changed to protect the survivor’s identity