Can you go to prison for sending unsolicited nudes?

As society has been moving increasingly online over the last two decades, from work and entertainment to shopping and dating, governments have struggled to keep up with legal changes to regulate these digital activities.

Here in the UK, the government is introducing tougher legislation to tackle anti-social behaviour online – including the sending of unsolicited sexual images.

While people in relationships exchanging sexual images with each other has been normalised in the digital age, sending an unsolicited picture or video of genitalia to another non-consenting person is widely considered a form of sexual harassment.

Consequentially, ‘cyberflashing’ has become a common term in recent years, but not everyone is aware of what it entails and what the consequences can be.

So, what exactly is cyberflashing, and is it against the law? What is the punishment for sending unsolicited nudes? These questions and more are answered below.

What is cyberflashing?

Cyberflashing is the act of sharing an image of a person’s genitals with someone else, without the recipient’s consent – causing discomfort and distress for the victim.

Sending unsolicited nudes is often done through social media and messaging platforms, but it’s even easier to do so with technologies like Bluetooth and AirDrop, which allow people to send files from their own device to another without connecting with the recipient online first.

This has quickly become an opportunistic crime in busy places like public transport, as the remote nature of the act makes it difficult to identify the perpetrator.

Though anyone can be a cyberflasher and anyone can be a victim of cyberflashing, perpetrators are typically male and their victims are typically female.

Dating app Bumble reported that almost half of women aged 18-24 had received an unwanted explicit image, while research firm YouGov found that 4 in 10 millennial women had been sent an image of a man’s genitals that they didn’t consent to receiving.

As this inappropriate sexual behaviour happens electronically and mostly online, it hasn’t been taken as seriously as real-world equivalents like indecent exposure.

However, after various campaigns raised awareness of this issue with the UK government, the law around this form of sexual harassment has been updated.

Is cyberflashing illegal?

Yes. After the Online Safety Bill was passed in October 2023, the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force on 31st January 2024. This legislation was written and introduced to tackle a wide range of digital offences that make online spaces unsafe, including cyberflashing.

In addition to properly criminalising revenge porn and violent online bullying, the Act officially made it illegal to share sexual images without the consent of all parties. This was already a crime under Scottish law, but is now a criminal offence in the rest of the UK, too.

Section 187 of the Online Safety Act 2023 amends Section 66A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to make it a sexual offence to intentionally send a photo or film of genitals to another person with the aim of causing alarm, distress, or humiliation or obtaining sexual gratification.

While the Act obligates social medial platforms, search engines, and tech companies to manage the harmful content on their websites and apps, the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) will also hold the individuals committing offences under the Act responsible.

Victims of cyberflashing are now encouraged to report it to the police, so the courts can hold the perpetrators accountable and deter others from committing this offence.

Can you go to jail for cyberflashing?

Yes. If an individual is charged with this offence they could be prosecuted in either the Magistrates’ Court or Crown Court, depending on the severity of the case. If convicted of cyberflashing, the defendant could face a prison sentence.

A conviction under this section of the Act could result in a fine and/or a term of imprisonment for up to 2 years. This is in line with the sentencing for the criminal offence of showing genitals non-consensually in person, known as indecent exposure.

Anyone convicted of these offences may also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which prohibits certain activities where the offender may pose a risk to the public and subjects them to ‘notification requirements’ – known as being on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

The first case of this kind was the case of Nicholas Hawkes at Southend Crown Court, who was convicted in February 2024 of sending unsolicited pictures of his genitals to an adult woman and a 15 year old girl. He was sentenced in March 2024 to 66 weeks in prison, a 10-year restraining order, and a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

This sentence was severe because the defendant was already a convicted sex offender and his cyberflashing offence breached a previous community order placed on him.

Is there a defence for cyberflashing?

While socially offensive behaviour like sending unsolicited explicit images may have been seen as ‘normal’ or ‘just a joke’ before, there is no real reason to engage in this behaviour other than to embarrass and upset others and/or gain sexual gratification.

If you are charged with this offence, the only defence is to try to prove that you did not do it for either of these reasons. Even so, you may still be convicted and fined or sentenced to a community order or short prison term.

If you are sentenced to a community order of 12 months or more or a prison term, or if the victim was under 18 years old, you will automatically be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

These punishments are no joke – being a convicted sex offender can affect relationships, employment, travel, and housing for the rest of your life. Is ‘doing it for a laugh’ really worth that?

Should you be accused of cyberflashing, it’s important to seek advice from a specialist sexual offence solicitor as quickly as possible – ideally, at the investigative stage.