MPs use evidence from Essex expert in new Parliamentary report

A University of Essex legal expert who helped form the foundations of the Online Safety Act has welcomed a new Parliamentary report calling for the possession of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) to be made illegal.

Essex Law School’s Professor Lorna Woods has supported the calls made by the Women and Equalities Committee to crackdown on the issue, and put it on the same legal footing as child sexual abuse material.

Professor Woods is cited throughout the committee’s new report, published earlier this month, having given evidence to MPs in Parliament about the legal problems with NCII late last year.

She discussed the scope of the Online Safety Act and whether it had appropriate mechanisms to protect victims of image-based sexual abuse.

Professor Woods said: “The Online Safety Act isn't really aimed at sorted out this sort of issue so now it doesn't really help, save to the extent that maybe services might stop promoting this sort of content generally.”

While some platforms remove NCII content voluntarily, others fail to comply with requests to take the material down, meaning an estimated 10 per cent of this content remains online and accessible in the UK.

The report published by the Women and Equalities Committee builds on evidence from Professor Woods, stating the new regulatory regime overseen by Ofcom is unlikely to have much impact on this material.

It adds that under the current and proposed legal framework, internet service providers will not block access to that content unless specifically mandated to by Ofcom, a process that could take many months.

Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and Labour MP Sarah Owen said: “Non-consensual intimate image abuse (NCII) is a deeply personal crime which can have life-changing and life-threatening consequences, as inquiry witness Georgia Harrison explained.

“The Committee heard shocking evidence of its scale and impact, with a tenfold increase in just four years and more than 22,000 reported cases in 2024.

“We welcome the Government’s proposals to make creating NCII an offence, but a legal gap remains. NCII can circulate online years after the image was first posted.

"While many sites will eventually remove the content when prompted, around 10 per cent do not.

“There is nothing in the Government’s proposals in the Crime and Policing Bill to address this concern. The Government should bring forward amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to make possession, as well as the creation, of NCII an offence.”

You can read all the recommendations made in the committee’s report.