In a historic first, a 39-year-old man has been convicted of cyberflashing – defined as sending unsolicited sexual images via social media or dating apps – which became an offence in January 2024 as part of the Online Safety Act. Nicholas Hawkes pleaded guilty to sending unsolicited photos of his penis to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on 9 February, according to the Crown Prosecution Service .
At the height of the coronavirus crisis cases actually continued to rise, and respondents of one Glitch survey reported a 27% increase of online abuse during Covid-19. Since then, the problem has only continued: a third of women said they had been subjected to cyber flashing in 2022. The severity of flashing, both IRL and cyber, should not be underestimated.