Revenge porn cases surged by 22 per cent during lockdown, say campaigners

Reports of revenge porn have surged this year, with campaigners blaming the UK lockdown.

Revenge porn – the act of “sharing private sexual materials with intent to cause distress” – has been illegal in England and Wales since 2015.

In July 2017, it was announced it had become a criminal offence in Scotland, with perpetrators at risk of spending up to five years in prison.

A government-funded helpline has seen a 22 per cent increase in reported cases compared to last year, meaning there have been more reports of revenge porn so far this year than there were for the whole of 2019.

The helpline is run by the charity South West Grid for Learning and is part of the UK Safer Internet Centre.

Roughly two-thirds of reports to the helpline involved women.

David Wright, director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said: "The lockdown produced an extreme set of circumstances which are bringing a lot of problems.

"What we are seeing here, however, suggests something more long-term has happened which could mean we will be busier than ever before.

"It's worrying to think this could be the new normal."

The figures come after domestic violence charity Refuge found that revenge porn is fairly common among young women, with one in seven having received threats that intimate photographs of them will be shared without their consent.

The organisation’s survey of 2,060 people also found that while 60 per cent of those who experienced threats were under 40, around one in eight were in their 60s, suggesting revenge porn takes place across age groups.

As a result of its findings, Refuge has launched “The Naked Threat” campaign and is calling for the government to make threats to share intimate images or videos a crime and to consider revenge porn as a type of domestic abuse.

The charity says this is vital given that sharing such images has become an increasingly common part of romantic relationships, adding that 27 per cent of young men and 43 per cent of young women have done so.

Read more

Make threatening to post revenge porn a crime, campaigners urge