Revenge porn up over 300% in London

The number of revenge porn incidents in London reported to the Metropolitan Police has increased sharply since December 2020, figures released by law enforcement show.

The total number of revenge porn complaints in London “had risen by 698 between October 1, 2020 and October 31, 2021,” the Daily Mail reported, citing information obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. The surge constitutes a “329% increase over a 13-month period,” the tabloid said.

Women remain disproportionately more targeted in alleged revenge porn cases, with “a total of 572 cases when compared to the 177 reports last year.” The number of cases in which the alleged victim is between 10 and 17 has quadrupled compared to last year, The Mail said.

Experts helping victims of revenge porn told the newspaper that the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic may have been a major factor driving this kind of crime up. There is no sign of it going down anytime soon, they said.

Revenge porn – publication of intimate pictures of a victim without their consent with intent to cause distress – was outlawed in England and Wales as a specific crime in 2015 and is punishable by up to two years in prison. This year, threats to share revenge porn were criminalized too under the Domestic Abuse Act.