Emma Pickering, Head of the Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment team at Refuge, said:
“As the UK’s largest specialist domestic abuse charity with a dedicated Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment team, Refuge sees firsthand the devastating impact that intimate image abuse has on survivors. In 2025, referrals to our team soared by 62% compared to the previous year, reflecting a deeply concerning rise in tech-facilitated abuse across the board. It is a huge and long-overdue step forward that the Government has now recognised intimate image abuse as a ‘national emergency’ and, crucially, backed this up by practical measures to tackle it head-on.
Refuge applauds the news that the Government will introduce a legal requirement for tech companies to take down non-consensual intimate images (NCII), including deepfakes, within 48 hours of being notified.
Survivors often face significant barriers when trying to get images removed and kept offline, including inconsistent and slow responses from platforms that can take days, or even weeks, prolonging survivors’ distress and amplifying the harm they experience.
Time and time again, tech platforms have prioritised profit over the protection of women and girls. Holding these companies properly to account is essential. Every minute NCII is left online, it is causing harm to survivors. The 48-hour takedown requirement must function as a firm backstop, and any penalties for non-compliance, including service blocks and fines, must be robustly enforced.
Images can spread across platforms in a matter of hours, leaving survivors constantly on edge about when they might resurface. Proactive tools such as hash-matching play a vital role in preventing harm before it happens, automatically detecting NCII content and blocking it from being uploaded – stopping abuse in its tracks. Ofcom’s expedited review of whether companies should be required to expand their use of this technology is a welcome recognition of the urgent need for a proactive approach. Acting before NCII circulates is critical to safeguarding survivors, reducing repeated trauma, and breaking the cycle of abuse.
While these new measures represent a significant and welcome step forward, the Government can and should go further by upgrading Ofcom’s VAWG Guidance into a legally enforceable Code of Practice. This would require tech companies to comply or face enforcement action – sending a clear message that platforms cannot profit from abuse without consequence.”
