U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday a new law will require tech companies to remove intimate images shared without consent within two days or face large fines and potentially have their services blocked. <\/p>\n
Victims should only need to report such images once, a press release<\/a> from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said, and images should be removed across multiple platforms simultaneously with new uploads being automatically deleted. <\/p>\n That goal would potentially be achieved through the use of digital markings that allow images to be flagged each time they are posted, according to the press release. <\/p>\n The government\u2019s announcement comes about two months after xAI\u2019s Grok chatbot began posting millions of \u201cnudified\u201d images of women and children in response to simple user prompts.\u00a0 <\/p>\n On January 15, after weeks of worldwide outrage and negative headlines, Grok owner Elon Musk announced that the platform would block<\/a> the chatbot from creating nudified images. That announcement came two days after Ofcom announced<\/a> a probe. <\/p>\n Musk left open the possibility of using geoblocking to allow images of people in skimpy attire to be shared in jurisdictions where the creation of such content is not illegal. <\/p>\n In an opinion piece published<\/a> in the Guardian, Starmer called the spread of nonconsensual intimate images a \u201cnational emergency.\u201d <\/p>\n He emphasized his focus on ensuring that intimate images shared without consent be taken down everywhere after a single report of abuse. <\/p>\n \u201cVictims have been left to fight alone \u2013 chasing takedown of harmful content site to site, reporting the same material again and again, only to see it reappear elsewhere hours later,\u201d Starmer wrote. \u201cThat is not justice.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe are putting tech companies on notice,\u201d he added. \u201cThe burden of tackling abuse must no longer fall on victims. It must fall on perpetrators \u2013 and on the companies that enable harm.\u201d <\/p>\n The deadline will be imposed via an amendment to the country\u2019s Crime and Policing Bill, DSIT said. In addition to having their service blocked in the U.K., firms that fail to meet the deadline could be fined up to 10% of their \u201cqualifying\u201d worldwide revenue. <\/p>\n DSIT plans to publish guidance for internet providers on how they should block hosting sites. That effort is meant to help providers target \u201crogue websites that may fall outside the reach of the Online Safety Act,\u201d the agency said. <\/p>\n