Social media giants will be named and shamed under rules intended to prevent online abuse of women and girls, as part of new UK guidance to tackle misogyny, harassment and an “exponential” rise of deepfake images.
Regulator Ofcom will on Tuesday publish “sensible, practical” steps it wants tech firms to adopt in order to improve online conditions for women.
It is targeting both illegal practices and ones that are not illegal but cause harm such as social media pile-ons and content leading to the normalisation of sexual violence.
Although the regulator will have no formal powers to compel tech platforms to comply unless illegal, it plans to “shine a light” on whether or not firms are following the guidance, and how, “so that [people] can make informed choices about where they want to spend their time online”, said Ofcom’s head of online safety Jessica Smith.
Under the UK’s new online safety laws, social media groups have a responsibility to protect people in the UK from illegal content, and children from harmful content.
Meanwhile, under the guidelines, social media groups will be asked to take action on posts that encourage misogynistic ideas or behaviours, or to identify coercive and controlling behaviour within an intimate relationship.
The non-consensual sharing of intimate images — including those created with AI and sending explicit images to someone without their consent — is also covered.
“Deep fake, intimate image abuse is something where we are seeing exponential growth [which is] really concerning,” said Smith, who added some of the problems facing women and girls online were becoming worse.
Ofcom’s recommendations cover a number of areas, including the use of technology to identify and remove harmful images, prompting uploaders to reconsider before posting harmful material, and allowing users to delete or change the visibility of their content.
Other proposals include removing geolocation by default, to address the threat of stalking, and training moderation teams to deal with online domestic abuse.
Smith said the recommendations are “some sensible, practical things that [platforms] can do”.
Following a consultation about the guidance, Ofcom said it wants to publish a final version by the end of this year.
Melanie Dawes, Ofcom chief executive, said: “No woman should have to think twice before expressing herself online, worry about an abuser tracking her location, or face the trauma of a deepfake intimate image of herself being shared without her consent.”
