Online Safety Bill Update №2: Cyberflashing offence added
The Online Safety Bill is a new form of legislation that is currently being drafted by the UK government. The main purpose of the bill is to develop frameworks of legislation and regulations which hold organisations and individual online users accountable for any harmful and unlawful actions that they may take on the online world. Encouraging responsibility, the Online Safety Bill once passed, aims to protect those who may become victims to online abuse through content such as revenge porn, hate speech or harassment.
In a previous blog we began this series which follows the updates that are made to this legislation as it is continuously evaluated and assessed, with changes being made as new issues arise in the global context. This weekend, the Uk government announced that Cyberflashing was the latest offence to be added to the bill.
Cyberflashing which is the sharing of unsolicited sexual content on online platforms such as social media, dating sites and even through Apple’s AirDrop feature, can range from short videos, to images, however they all share the commonality of unwanted nudity- think the infamous ‘dick pic’.
The UK government defined the act as : “ typically involves offenders sending an unsolicited sexual image to people via social media or dating apps, but can also be over data sharing services such as Bluetooth and Airdrop”
Research conducted by Professor Jessica Ringrose in 2020 found that 76% of girls between the ages of 12 and 18 had been sent unsolicited nude images from boys or men. On Sunday, ministers confirmed that due to the severity of this issue in the UK that laws are now being added to the Online Safety Bill to ban this type of behaviour, included not only in the bill but “alongside wide ranging reforms to keep people safe on the internet”.
This new offence will see perpetrators facing up to 2 years in jail and is part of the government’s wider efforts to ensure that legislation can keep up with new and emerging crimes relating to the online world which seem to be appearing at a rapid rate as new technology is introduced. The new law follows recent actions taken by the government to criminalise upskirting- which involves the highly-intrusive practice of someone taking a picture or video of another individual’s genitalia from underneath clothing without their consent or knowledge -and breastfeeding voyeurism- which is the taking of non-consensual photos or videos of women breastfeeding, which can thanks to new legislation can now see offenders face up to two years in prison.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Rabb stated that protecting women and children was his main priority, hence why the maximum sentence of two years for offenders. However, do you think two years is enough?
