Reality television personality Georgia Harrison has proposed a new law, dubbed 'Georgia's Law,' that would mandate the immediate removal of non-consensual intimate images from the internet. Harrison met with Prime Minister Andy Burnham to advocate for a 'kill switch' mechanism that would bypass the current 48-hour waiting period for image removal.
Harrison, who was a victim of non-consensual intimate-image abuse by her former partner Stephen Bear, shared her firsthand experience of the "life-changing devastation" caused by the delay in removal. She argued that such images should be treated with the same urgency as terrorist abuse material and child sexual abuse material, which are typically removed more rapidly.
Under the proposed law, once an unconsented intimate image is reported, it would be immediately taken down. The onus would then shift to the uploader to prove consent. If consent cannot be proven, the image would remain removed, and evidence would be provided to the victim for potential legal action.
"I'm currently working on hopefully launching a new law," Harrison stated. "When it comes to intimate image abuse, currently if a woman or man has an unconsented picture on any sort of social media platform, when they report it they then have to wait 48 hours for that footage to come down. That's two whole days."
Prime Minister Andy Burnham expressed support for the principle behind Harrison's proposal, stating that non-consensual images should not be widely circulated. "Of course it should be the former, it's clearly the right principle, non consented images should not be in broad circulation around the system," Burnham replied.
However, Burnham cautioned that there are currently no immediate plans to implement the bill. "While I support Georgia's Law, I can't say to you right we can implement this now and there's this bill in parliament, I can't say that," he said. He affirmed his commitment to working with Harrison to protect victims and their mental health.
Stephen Bear was previously sentenced in 2023 for sharing a sex tape of Harrison and received a five-year restraining order. He has since been jailed for multiple breaches of this order, including posting degrading comments online and failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements after a trip abroad.