Ofcom’s Jessica Smith, who led the development of the new guidance, said: “For intimate image abuse, we are saying that tech firms should sign up to a technology called hash-matching, which is basically a database of images which enables any image to be identified at scale wherever it is shared on a platform.
Tech platforms should combat the rapid rise in explicit deepfakes and “revenge porn” by using a database of images to protect women and girls online, according to new guidance being drawn up by the UK communications watchdog.
Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, said: “Our practical guidance is a call to action for online services, setting a new and ambitious standard for women and girls’ online safety.
Ofcom research found that the proliferation of generative AI tools, which can create highly realistic images and audio from simple hand-typed prompts, had led to more deepfake intimate image abuse being posted online in 2023 than in all previous years combined.
The move is part of a raft of measures proposed by Ofcom to tackle online misogyny, harassment and the sharing of intimate images without the subject’s consent – often referred to as “revenge porn”.
