The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has warned tech companies that they must do more to protect women and girls online or face further action.

Speaking at a roundtable with leading social media companies, Liz Kendall outlined the range of measures that the Government has recently introduced to improve online safety for women and girls. Many of these we have discussed previously. They include, for example, making intimate image abuse and cyberflashing priority offences under the Online Safety Act 2023, criminalising so-called ‘nudification’ apps, and introducing a requirement that platforms remove intimate images shared without consent within 48 hours of being flagged.

The Secretary of State’s position was clear: tech companies must match the Government’s level of action, and “go above and beyond” to protect women and girls from abuse and misogyny online.

In particular, she pointed to guidance recently published by Ofcom (commented upon here) that seeks to address four specific harms arising:

1. Misogynistic abuse and sexual violence;
2. ‘Pile-ons’ and co-ordinated harassment;
3. Stalking and coercive control; and
4. Image-based sexual abuse.

The guidance includes ‘foundational’ steps that are linked to enforceable duties covered by existing Codes of Practice and guidance, as well as further ‘good practice’ steps that they can take to mitigate the risk of these harms arising.

As the Government points out, Ofcom will report in due course on the extent to which regulated services are complying with its guidance, and the implication from the press release is that those services that are not could face “further action from the Government”.

The Secretary of State added, “tech companies must go above and beyond to use the tools readily available to them to make their platforms safer. If they don’t, these companies are not innocent bystanders – they are enabling abuse to thrive. That is why we are asking Ofcom to report swiftly on how companies are complying, because better safety and better accountability go hand in hand”.

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