The Evolving Nature of Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA): Addressing New Challenges in Research, Policy and Practice

This workshop addresses the rapidly evolving landscape of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), with a focus on ‘sextortion’ and ‘deepfakes’, particularly affecting young people. While these developments have garnered media attention, their precise nature, prevalence, and the connections between new/evolving and traditional IBSA remain underexplored. The workshop brings together academic, policy and practice experts to examine the issues and develop a research, policy and practice agenda.

Scheduled for Safer Internet Day (SID) 2025, the workshop builds on themes from a SID 2024 conference, attended by the organisers, which identified the evolving nature of IBSA. It adopts a ‘post-digital’ perspective, situating IBSA within offline contexts of sexual harm. It critically assesses current policy and practice, particularly the failure to clearly differentiate between abusive and non-abusive image-sharing among young people, which has contributed to cultures of IBSA whereby victims feel too ashamed or fearful of punishment to report abuse, with recent examples connected to sextortion cases.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Professor Andy Phippen, Bournemouth University

Professor Jessica Ringrose, University College London

Internet Watch Foundation 

Lucy Faithfull Foundation

Ofcom

Meta-Instagram

Revenge Porn Helpline 

ORGANISERS

Dr Emily Setty, University of Surrey

Mr Jonny Hunt, University of Bedfordshire

Mr Jude Mukoro, University of Surrey