I'm taking on Ofcom after my intimate images were shared online
Jane, not her real name, is asking Ofcom to exercise its enforcement powers against platforms which hosted non-consensual explicit images of women and children
Sunday marked International Women's Day, and for me a day to reflect on the invisible battles many women face online.
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A safer internet is one that works for everyone, but sadly that still feels very far off.
Across the UK, women are still having their intimate images shared without consent on "collector culture" websites, where content is organised by location and accessible to anyone.
Like thousands of other women, my intimate images and personal information were shared without my consent on a forum named after the place where I grew up.
These platforms facilitate a particularly harmful form of degradation and humiliation, where women's images are exchanged like trading cards - traded for sexual gratification, peer networking, and the social status derived from participating in abuse.
The responsibility for overseeing these sites and ensuring they comply with their legal duties under the Online Safety Act 2023 rests with Ofcom.
Yet their repeated inaction makes it feel as though they are disregarding the abuse I and many others have experienced.
When websites hosting non-consensual content link my intimate images to my location and are searchable on Google, regaining control over my images, my body, my life, and my career feels nearly impossible.
Despite repeated attempts to report and flag these sites to Ofcom, they have continued to operate, and nearly two years later, these images are still on this site.
This inaction has amplified the harm and compounded the trauma for every woman targeted on that forum and on the many other location-based forums on that site.
I struggle to see how this reflects any meaningful commitment from Ofcom to tackling online harms against women and girls.
The burden to challenge injustice and abuse too often falls on the victims themselves.
I have now begun a legal challenge for Ofcom's failure to take action, supported by the End Violence Against Women Coalition.
It’s time for all of us to demand accountability: if you believe online safety for women and girls is non-negotiable, speak out, support campaigns like this one.
Regulators such as Ofcom must do the work to make safer internet a reality.