‘I was hacked and my intimate images were posted online – and I’m not alone’
The article tells the story of “Jane”, a woman whose private photographs were stolen during the hacking of her Facebook and Snapchat accounts and later uploaded to an online forum where anonymous users traded and commented on intimate images of women. The abuse escalated when users identified her through her hometown, social media profiles and LinkedIn account, leaving her feeling constantly exposed and fearful that the images could reappear at any time.
Jane’s experience reflects a much broader trend highlighted by the UK Revenge Porn Helpline, which recorded its busiest year since launching in 2015. During 2025, the service received reports involving nearly 25,000 intimate images, an 11% increase from the previous year. Since its creation, the helpline has helped remove more than 450,000 images from the internet, demonstrating both the scale of the problem and the demand for specialist support.
The report shows that women remain the overwhelming victims, accounting for 98.9% of reported images. In more than 80% of cases, the images were shared by men, most commonly current or former partners. For male victims, the most common form of abuse was sextortion, with criminals threatening to release intimate images unless money was paid. More than half of male victim cases involved sextortion, and around 80% of those incidents were linked to organized criminal gangs.
Despite the UK’s criminalization of non-consensual intimate image sharing a decade ago, the article highlights continuing shortcomings in enforcement. Only 4% of victims reported their abuse to police, and many described negative experiences when they did. The article also notes that while mainstream platforms often comply with takedown requests, niche image-sharing forums and smaller websites are significantly harder to tackle, allowing abusive material to remain online for longer periods.
The psychological impact on victims continues to worsen. According to the helpline, reports of deteriorating mental health doubled year-on-year, with victims describing anxiety, loss of control, damage to personal relationships and even job losses. The report also identifies an increase in cases involving voyeurism, where victims were secretly photographed or filmed, and a growing number of AI-generated sexual deepfakes, with 63 deepfake cases reported to the helpline during 2025.
The article concludes that image-based sexual abuse is becoming increasingly diverse and technologically sophisticated. Campaigners argue that stronger enforcement, better victim support, faster content removal, and improved regulation of online platforms are needed to address the growing threat posed by hacked images, voyeurism, sextortion and AI-generated intimate imagery.
