In brief: Data from 39 police forces in England and Wales shows charges in an average of 4.5% of image-based abuse cases last year, prompting a police super-complaint, The Guardian reported Oct. 7.
This is a serious story, so there’s no joke here. It also affects every creator whose content has been leaked or faked.
Police in England and Wales are routinely failing to investigate image-based abuse, previously called “revenge porn,” according to research that triggered a super-complaint, The Guardian reported. Data from 39 forces shows charges in an average of just 4.5% of cases last year, and under 1% in some forces.
Image-based abuse overwhelmingly affects women and girls, who make up 98.9% of reported images.
The numbers
Referrals to the Revenge Porn Helpline rose more than 4,000% between 2015 and 2025, and the helpline received almost 25,000 reports in 2025. Home Office data shows only 569 charges for image-based abuse in 2025/2026, according to the report.
Lawyers from Leigh Day and the Centre for Women’s Justice are working with #NotYourPorn on the complaint. They point to AI tools that let abusers create and spread synthetic explicit material, often called deepfakes.
Without an urgent overhaul of police guidance and training on image-based abuse – which must be regularly updated – and a clear national strategy rolled out across forces, survivors will continue to be let down.
That’s Harriet Bland of the Centre for Women’s Justice, quoted by The Guardian.
A police super-complaint, introduced in 2018, lets designated groups raise concerns about police practices that may significantly harm the public, rather than about a single force. For creators, leaks and AI fakes are a business risk as well as a personal one. OnlyFans’ new terms require AI content to clearly feature the verified creator.
Victims in the UK can contact the Revenge Porn Helpline. The research suggests few of their cases end in charges.