The government has promised a crackdown on synthetic image abuse – but campaigners warn it doesn’t go far enough.

It began with an anonymous email. “I’m genuinely so, so sorry to reach out to you,” it read. Beneath the words were three links to an internet forum. “Huge trigger warning … They contain lewd photoshopped images of you.”

Jodie (not her real name) froze. In the past, the 27-year-old from Cambridgeshire had had problems with people stealing her photos to set up dating profiles and social media accounts. She had reported it to police but been told there was nothing they could do, so pushed it to the back of her mind.

But this email, on 10 March 2021, was impossible to ignore. She clicked the links. “It was just like time stood still,” she said. “I remember letting out a huge scream. I completely broke down.”

The forum, an alternative pornographic website, contained hundreds of photos of her – on her own, on holiday, with her friends and housemates – alongside comments calling them “sluts” and “whores” and […]