Report finds three in four girls have been sent non-consensual sexual images on apps

Tech companies need to do more to clamp down on non-consensual sexual images being sent to young people, according to new research released on Monday by the University of Kent.

The study by academics at University College London and the University of Kent found that just over 50% of teenagers who had been sent unsolicited sexually explicit images via apps on social media did not tell their parents about the incident.

The report highlights the lack of accountability and identity-checking on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, and highlights that app reporting functions are relatively “useless” and uses usually block offenders rather that reporting the abuse. A third of the young people surveyed by the researchers reported that they "didn't think reporting the images worked".

Only 17% of those surveyed who received unwanted sexual content reported it to the platforms involved.

Prof Jessica Ringrose of the UCL Institute of Education, one of the report’s authors, said: “Young people in the UK are facing a crisis of online sexual violence. Despite these young people, in particular girls, saying they felt disgusted, embarrassed and confused about the sending and receiving of non-consensual images, they rarely want to talk about their online experiences for fear of victim-blaming and worry that reporting will make matters worse".

“We hope this report allows all of us to better identify when and how image-sharing becomes digital sexual harassment and abuse and spread the message that, although the non-consensual sending and sharing of sexual images may be common and feel normal, it is extremely harmful.”

The surveyed interviewed 480 young people aged from 12 to 18 from across the UK, including 144 who participated in focus groups.

Over half of those who had received unwanted sexual content or had their image shared without their consent reported doing nothing. Just 25% told a friend, but only 5% told their parents and 2% told their schools.

Of the 88 girls who took part in the focus groups, three-quarters said they had received images of male genitals. They said that close to half of the harassment had come from what appeared to be adult men, including adults who had created false identities. They also received online harassment and abuse from boys in their age range and peer groups.

A spokesperson for Meta, formerly Facebook which operates Instagram, said the safety of young people using its apps was its “top priority”. “If anyone is sent an unsolicited explicit image, we strongly encourage them to report it to us and the police,” the spokesperson said".