Hotline to help people with images posted online without consent

People who have intimate images of themselves posted online without their consent can now report the matter to a hotline which will help in getting them removed.

The move announced on Thursday is one aspect of a new Department of Justice awareness campaign to highlight that sharing or threatening to share intimate images of another person without their consent is a form of abuse, and there are now laws in place to stop it with penalties of up to seven years in prison.

"Abusers can often use the threat of sharing intimate images as an element of coercive control in relationships," Minister of State for Civil and Criminal Justice Hildegarde Naughton said launching the campaign.

“The message must and will be heard that sharing or threatening to share intimate images will not be tolerated under any circumstances both by the law and by wider society.”

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The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act, otherwise known as Coco’s Law, was enacted last February. It makes the non-consensual distribution of intimate images a criminal offence.

Independent research commissioned by the Department of Justice found that one adult in 20 claims to have had an intimate image of themselves shared to an online or social media site without consent. This rises to one in 10 among 18-24 and 25-37 year olds.

Hotline.ie

As part of moves to strengthen awareness and safeguards, the department has made the hotline.ie/report mechanism available to people who find themselves in this situation.

Hotline.ie is the national centre combating illegal online content such as reports of child sexual abuse material, the sexual exploitation of children, racism and xenophobia.

Where intimate images are shared, the service can help those affected with reporting it and removing them. It can also liaise with gardaí in some cases, where requested.

“Sharing an intimate image of someone without their consent is abhorrent, and can have long-lasting and harmful emotional and mental-health effects,” Ms Naughton said.

“Sharing or threatening to share intimate images is a form of abuse, and there are no excuses for it. If you share an intimate image without consent, you share in the abuse.”