Law · United Kingdom (criminal provisions England and Wales, with equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
UK Online Safety Act 2023 and intimate image offences
The Online Safety Act 2023 puts duties on user-to-user services and search engines to remove illegal content and protect children, enforced by Ofcom. It also rewrote the criminal law on intimate images: sharing or threatening to share an intimate image without consent, including a deepfake, became an offence in January 2024, and from February 2026 creating a sexual deepfake of an adult is itself a crime under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Updated November 6, 2026 · 3 min read · reviewed November 6, 2026
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2023-10-26
Royal assent
The Act creates Ofcom's online safety regime and new intimate image offences.
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2024-01-31
Sharing offences in force
Sections 66B to 66D of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, covering sharing and threatening to share, including deepfakes.
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2024-09
Priority offence
Intimate image abuse is listed as a priority offence, so platforms must proactively prevent it.
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2025-03-17
Illegal content duties
Ofcom's illegal harms codes take effect; platforms must have completed risk assessments.
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2025-07-25
Child safety duties
Age assurance for pornography and harmful content.
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2026-02-06
Creation offence
Section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 commences: creating or requesting a purported intimate image of an adult without consent is an offence.
What does the Act require of platforms?
User-to-user services and search services with links to the UK must assess the risk of illegal content, take proportionate measures to prevent users encountering it, remove it swiftly once aware, and give users reporting and complaint routes. Priority offences, which include intimate image abuse, child sexual abuse material and harassment, require proactive systems rather than reaction to reports. Ofcom's codes of practice set out what 'proportionate' means by service size and risk.
What are the intimate image offences?
| Section | Conduct | Since |
|---|---|---|
| 66B(1) | Sharing an intimate image without consent and without reasonable belief in consent | 31 January 2024 |
| 66B(2) and (3) | Sharing with intent to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or for sexual gratification | 31 January 2024 |
| 66B(4) | Threatening to share an intimate image | 31 January 2024 |
| 66E | Creating a purported intimate image (a deepfake) of an adult without consent | 6 February 2026 |
| 66F | Requesting the creation of such an image | 6 February 2026 |
Who enforces it?
Ofcom enforces the platform duties with information powers, fines of up to 18 million pounds or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, and court orders to block a service. It opened its first investigations in 2025, including into pornography sites over age assurance and into 4chan and smaller forums over illegal content duties. The criminal offences are prosecuted by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service; the Revenge Porn Helpline supports victims and reports removals.
What does it mean for face search?
The Act gives a UK victim two tools once a face search has found a misused image. On the platform side, intimate image abuse is a priority offence, so the host must act on a report and Ofcom can act on a pattern of failure. On the criminal side, the person who shared the image, or who made a deepfake, has committed an offence since 2024 and 2026 respectively, and a police report carries weight with platforms. Face search engines themselves, including PimEyes, FaceCheck.ID and FaceSearch, are search services under the Act if they have links to the UK, with duties to minimise the risk of users encountering illegal content through search results and to run reporting systems. Ofcom has not yet published any action involving a face search engine.
What is pending or unsettled?
- Ofcom's enforcement against small, high-risk services and offshore platforms; several 2025 investigations were continuing in 2026.
- Whether the 'nudification' app ban announced by the government in 2025 proceeds as a standalone measure or through Ofcom's codes.
- Sentencing practice under section 66E, which is a summary-only offence with an unlimited fine but no custodial term.
Questions
Is sharing a deepfake of me a crime in the UK?
Yes. Since 31 January 2024, sharing an intimate image that appears to show you, without consent, is an offence under section 66B. Since 6 February 2026, creating such an image of an adult without consent is also an offence under section 66E.
Does the Act make platforms remove intimate images?
Intimate image abuse is a priority offence, so services must have systems to prevent and remove it and must act on reports. Ofcom can fine services that fail.
Does the Online Safety Act apply to face search engines?
Search services with links to the UK are covered. Their duties concern illegal content in search results and user reporting; Ofcom has not published action against any face search engine.
Who do I contact?
The platform's report form first, then the Revenge Porn Helpline for adults or Report Remove (Childline and the IWF) for under-18s, and the police. StopNCII can block re-uploads on participating platforms.
Sources
- 1.legislation.gov.uk, Online Safety Act 2023 (checked November 6, 2026)
- 2.GOV.UK, Better protection for victims thanks to new law on sexually explicit deepfakes (checked November 6, 2026)
- 3.The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5) Regulations 2026 (checked November 6, 2026)
- 4.Ofcom, Online safety: illegal content codes of practice (checked November 6, 2026)
Entry reviewed November 6, 2026. Found an error? Tell us.
Related entries
- Law UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018: biometric data as special category data, ICO fines up to 17.5 million pounds or 4%, Clearview, and the 2025 DUA Act.
- Directory Removing intimate images shared without consent, by country Intimate image removal routes in 11 countries: the law, where to report, the platform deadline and the helpline, from the US and UK to India and Brazil.
- Directory Helplines for image abuse, scams and online harm, by country Helplines and reporting portals for image abuse, sextortion, romance fraud, stalking and crisis in the US, UK, India, Canada, Australia and Europe.
- Organisation StopNCII.org The hash-based service for adults' intimate images: who runs it, how hashing works, which platforms participate, who is eligible and what it cannot do.
- Term NCII (non-consensual intimate images) NCII defined: non-consensual intimate images, real or synthetic, the laws covering them in the US, UK, EU, India and Australia, and the removal routes.
- Term Deepfake Deepfake defined: faces, voices and video synthesised or swapped by machine learning, how they are made and detected, and the laws that cover them.
Cite this entry
FaceSearch Wiki editors. "UK Online Safety Act 2023 and intimate image offences". FaceSearch Wiki, updated November 6, 2026. https://facesearch.wiki/laws/uk-online-safety-act/