Nearly 19,000 victims of so-called revenge porn in four years, investigation finds

Children younger than 10 are among the nearly 19,000 victims who have reported cases of image-based sexual abuse – so-called ‘revenge porn’ – to police in the last four years, Channel 4 News can reveal. 

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This programme has received Freedom of Information responses from 34 of the UK’s 45 police forces which shows the scale of this devastating crime.

18,700 cases of image-based sexual abuse were reported to police forces in England and Wales between January 2018 and August 2021, equivalent to 14 reports every day.

Our analysis shows that almost 80% of reported victims were women and girls, while the majority (62%) of suspects were male. Nearly 2,000 victims were under the age of 18 at the time the reported incident occurred, and 19 were 10 years old or younger.

More than 4,500 reports involved a partner or ex-partner.

Freedom of Information data also showed suspects aged under 18, with one as young as nine years old.

Online image-based sexual abuse can have devastating effects. Ruby is a teacher who found pictures of herself aged 17 on a site dedicated to sharing private images of people without their consent.

“I was alerted by someone I knew from college from 10 years ago to the fact that there were somewhat explicit photographs of me on a website,” she told Channel 4 News.

“It can derail your life,” she said. “It can put victims in a very vulnerable position in terms of work and family and relationships.”

She reported the incident to the police and found that several other women in her area had also been featured on the website.

So-called ‘Revenge Porn’ became a crime in April 2015, but just 4% of the reported cases seen by Channel 4 News resulted in a charge or summons. Campaigners are increasingly calling for the crime to be referred to as image-based sexual abuse.

Ruby is now campaigning with a group called My Image, My Choice, calling for greater protections for victims of this kind of abuse. Under the current legislation, prosecution depends on being able to prove that the person disclosing the images or videos intended to cause distress.

Sophie Mortimer from the Revenge Porn Helpline told Channel 4 News, “We need to see that intention to cause distress removed. We need to provide… anonymity for the victims, because it’s a form of sexual violence, and… there needs to be many more resources for victims in terms of getting this content removed.”

The legislation, she says, is out of date. “Any new crafting… needs to be future-proofed. It needs to be aware that these technologies are developing all the time.”

“I think there’s a real concern about the evolution of these behaviours. We’re seeing younger victims with younger perpetrators. We’re seeing collecting behaviour, trading behaviour (where the victim and perpetrator don’t necessarily know each other). We’re seeing manipulated images proliferating where the content is completely fake. But it’s all causing harm. And that’s why we need to start seeing some redress or support for victims.”

For Ruby, changes will not only benefit victims, but also the police themselves: “The bottom line is we didn’t feel fully supported by the police. But then upon further investigation and discussion, we realised that the law doesn’t support the police to support us.”

She told Channel 4 News, “the impact of this abuse online, particularly against women and girls, is really widespread. But with these changes that we’re getting closer and closer to in the law, we’re closing in on identifying perpetrators, and protecting women and girls.”

A DCMS spokesperson told Channel 4 News: “Our new laws set a gold standard for internet safety. They will force online platforms to stamp out abuse and protect people from a range of illegal and harmful content including revenge porn.

“If they don’t, they will face huge fines and having their services blocked. Bosses could be held criminally liable for failing to cooperate with the regulator.”

Produced by Minnie Stephenson and Jamie Roberton
Investigation by Ed Gove