This chapter chronicles the ten-year evolution of the UK’s Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH), contextualizing its emergence, development, and growing influence within the broader online safety ecosystem. From its founding in 2015 as a pilot service responding to intimate image abuse, the chapter details how the Helpline has become a globally recognized actor in victim support, advocacy, and technological innovation—most notably through its co-development of StopNCII.org. Drawing on practitioner experiences, policy engagement, and historical case data, the chapter highlights key milestones and persistent challenges in law enforcement collaboration, victim-blaming narratives, and systemic gaps in justice delivery. It assesses the Helpline’s responses to critical turning points, including the COVID-19 pandemic, legislative reforms, and the rise of synthetic and AI-generated imagery. It also evaluates the enduring limitations of criminal justice systems and underscores the importance of proactive, victim-centric strategies that integrate legal, technological, and cultural change. The chapter serves as both a retrospective and a strategic overview, offering critical insights into the evolution of digital abuse and the institutional responses required to meaningfully combat intimate image abuse at scale.

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The Revenge Porn Helpline Then and Now: A Review of Ten Years of Operation

  • Sophie Mortimer,
  • Andy Phippen,
  • Emma Bond

摘要

This chapter chronicles the ten-year evolution of the UK’s Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH), contextualizing its emergence, development, and growing influence within the broader online safety ecosystem. From its founding in 2015 as a pilot service responding to intimate image abuse, the chapter details how the Helpline has become a globally recognized actor in victim support, advocacy, and technological innovation—most notably through its co-development of StopNCII.org. Drawing on practitioner experiences, policy engagement, and historical case data, the chapter highlights key milestones and persistent challenges in law enforcement collaboration, victim-blaming narratives, and systemic gaps in justice delivery. It assesses the Helpline’s responses to critical turning points, including the COVID-19 pandemic, legislative reforms, and the rise of synthetic and AI-generated imagery. It also evaluates the enduring limitations of criminal justice systems and underscores the importance of proactive, victim-centric strategies that integrate legal, technological, and cultural change. The chapter serves as both a retrospective and a strategic overview, offering critical insights into the evolution of digital abuse and the institutional responses required to meaningfully combat intimate image abuse at scale.