The UK Government has introduced plans to ban harmful ‘nudification’ apps to push back against the rise of online violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Ministers have pledged to make it impossible for children in the UK to take, share or view a nude image using their phones, with the government intending to join forces with tech companies to find innovative solutions that will better protect young people from digital abuse.

The creation and supply of nudification apps and tools that use genAI to turn images of real people into deepfake nudes without permission will be banned outright, building on existing offences around the creation and sharing of these damaging images.

The new legislation, part of a package of fresh measures designed to combat VAMG across the board, will allow the police to target the firms and individuals who design and supply these highly realistic tools. 

The government said this will allow it to crack down on the rise in digitally-driven, financially motivated sexual extortion and the troubling use of AI by paedophile rings. 

“Nudification’ apps are not used for harmless pranks,” said Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls.

“They devastate young people’s lives, and we will ensure those who create or supply them face real consequences. Every child deserves to grow up safe, and we will do whatever it takes to make that a reality.”

Despite AI still being in its infancy, a wealth of research shows that the breakneck pace of the technology is fueling an epidemic of deepfake exploitation.

Figures referenced by the government show that 24 million people visited ‘nudification’ services in September 2023, less than a year after the launch of ChatGPT’s first incarnation.

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More recently, Report Remove, run by the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline, found that between January and September this year, 19% of those reporting incidents said that some or all of their imagery had been manipulated using AI.  

The problem has become so endemic that over half of teenagers now think it would be worse to have a deepfake nude created and shared of them than a real image.

However, despite the government’s plans to step up enforcement, some campaigners say they do not go far enough, with Dr Maria Neophytou, director of strategy for the NSPCC, telling the BBC that the charity was “disappointed” not to see the introduction of device-level protections, and called on Labour to force tech firms to find ways of preventing the spread of abuse material on their platforms.