non-consensual intimate imagery
In plain wordsSexual or nude images of a real person that are shared, or made, without their consent — including fakes created with AI that show someone undressed or in sexual scenes.
Sexually explicit or nude images or videos of an identifiable person that are created, shared or threatened to be shared without that person's consent. The category covers private images leaked by former partners (popularly 'revenge porn'), covert recordings, hacked material and, increasingly, synthetic imagery: deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened. videos, face swaps and the output of nudification appsnudification app, n.: An app or AI tool that takes an ordinary photo of a real person and fakes a nude or sexual image of them, almost always without their consent., which use image generators to depict a clothed person as naked. Victims are overwhelmingly women and girls, and harms include harassment, extortion ('sextortion'), damage to reputation and employment, and lasting psychological distress. Countermeasures include hash-matching services such as StopNCII.org, which let victims block known images across participating platforms without uploading them; refusal training and safety classifierssafety classifier, n.: A separate AI model that checks messages going into or coming out of a chatbot and flags or blocks those that break safety rules, like a security guard at the door. in image models; removal of nudification apps from app stores and payment networks; and laws that criminalize creation or distribution and impose takedown duties on platforms. AI-generated child sexual abuse material is illegal in many jurisdictions and is addressed by separate laws.
Our NCII policy removes intimate deepfakes on exactly the same terms as real photographs.
Origin
'Revenge porn' spread in the late 2000s with websites publishing ex-partners' images. Advocates, including the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (founded in the early 2010s), promoted 'non-consensual pornography' and then 'non-consensual intimate imagery' as more accurate, less victim-blaming terms; Clare McGlynn and Erika Rackley proposed 'image-based sexual abuse' in 2017. AI-generated forms spread from 2017 with deepfakes.
Usage note
As of October 2026, laws include the US TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime. (2025), whose platform takedown duty applies from May 2026; offences in England and Wales for sharing (in force 2024) and creating (in force February 2026) intimate deepfakes; Australia's 2024 deepfake sexual material law; South Korea's 2024 ban on possessing or viewing sexual deepfakes; and EU Directive 2024/1385, which member states must transpose by June 2027.
Related
- deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened.
- nudification appnudification app, n.: An app or AI tool that takes an ordinary photo of a real person and fakes a nude or sexual image of them, almost always without their consent.
- TAKE IT DOWN ActTAKE IT DOWN Act, prop. n.: A 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime.
- synthetic mediasynthetic media, n.: Images, video, audio or text created or substantially altered by AI rather than recorded or written directly by people, whether for art, entertainment, business or deception.
- content moderationcontent moderation, n.: Checking what people post, or what an AI produces, and removing, limiting or labeling whatever breaks the rules or the law — done by people, by AI, or by both together.
- digital replicadigital replica, n.: A realistic computer-made copy of a real person's voice or appearance — such as an AI clone of a singer's voice or a digital stand-in for an actor — that can say or do things the person never did.
- safety classifiersafety classifier, n.: A separate AI model that checks messages going into or coming out of a chatbot and flags or blocks those that break safety rules, like a security guard at the door.
Sources
- McGlynn, C. & Rackley, E. (2017). Image-Based Sexual Abuse. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 37(3).
- Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating violence against women and domestic violence (2024). Official Journal of the EU.