Lib Dems push to end legal grey area and force platforms to tackle rampant voyeurism

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

The Liberal Democrats are tabling a Bill to push the Government to urgently update voyeurism legislation for the digital world to clamp down on a covert filming epidemic. The party is also calling on the Government to force platforms to remove the content and permanently ban any repeat offenders.

Shocking revelations from a new investigation by the BBC have uncovered an epidemic of men covertly filming women on nights out without their permission and making money from posting the videos online - yet the offence too often falls into a legal grey area under existing legislation, leaving thousands of women failed by the legal system.

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse, who previously secured a change in law on upskirting, has tabled a new private members bill to update voyeurism laws to make them fit for the digital world by closing loopholes that too often allow men to carry out covert filming without facing any consequences.

The BBC’s investigation found the content is available on platforms like YouTube, which means videos are accessible to everyone including children. The party has also urged the Government to force platforms to take the content down immediately and permanently ban any repeat offenders. 

Wera Hobhouse Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, whose private members bill made upskirting illegal in 2019, said:

“Secretly filming women for profit is a sickening and cowardly act, and those responsible should be held accountable. 

“Everyone should feel safe to go out with their friends without the fear they will appear in videos plastered all over the internet without their knowledge or consent.

“We need to plug the loopholes that allow these men to get away scot free. The Government must urgently tighten voyeurism laws to make clear that sexualised, covert filming and posting footage online is a criminal offence, and force platforms to take this content down fast. The law must be fit for purpose to protect women and girls in the digital world.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Wera Hobhouse MP’s PMB is here.

Images (Non-consensual Recording and Distribution)

Bill to create offences relating to the non-consensual recording of images of a person and the online distribution of such images for profit with the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification or of causing humiliation or distress to that person; and for connected purposes.

Story first reported by the BBC here.

Original BBC Investigation into covert filming is here.