Image abuse is when someone shares images of someone else without their consent on social media or in private groups or porn websites or elsewhere online. These may well be sexually explicit images.

What is known as “revenge porn” is a kind of image abuse but not all the explicit images shared online are for revenge.

Sometimes the images could have been stolen from accounts by hackers, sometimes the images might have been obtained using hidden cameras on public transport for example. Sometimes the images might also be “deepfakes” that have been created by computer.

Women are more likely to be victims of image abuse and the impact on them may also be greater.

The intention could be to humiliate someone or to hurt them. Sometimes the victim’s other details are shared as well.

It can be deeply embarrassing to know that those kind of images could have been seen by friends and family, co-workers or school workers. Victims often feel stigamtised and it can have a severe mental health impact.

If it ever happens to you or a friend it can be deeply traumatising and hard to think what to do. But your first step should be to take a record of it even if that feels hard to do.

Social media platforms oppose image abuse and will help to get images taken down once you point them out.