Tech firms face tougher UK rules on intimate image abuse
Summary
UK regulators (Ofcom) are requiring social media platforms, messaging services, and online forums to follow stricter rules to prevent the spread of intimate image abuse (sharing private sexual images without consent, sometimes called 'revenge porn') and AI-generated deepfakes (fake videos created with AI to show people doing things they didn't do). This comes after a rise in such harmful content, particularly targeting women and girls, including a spike in deepfakes created with AI tools like Elon Musk's Grok.
Solution / Mitigation
Ofcom said it would change its codes of practice to force service providers to detect and quash intimate image abuse and crack down on AI-generated deepfakes.
Classification
Affected Vendors
Related Issues
Original source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/18/tech-firms-uk-rules-intimate-image-abuse
First tracked: May 18, 2026 at 08:00 PM
Classified by LLM (prompt v3) · confidence: 85%