Nearly 100 prosecutions under Coco's Law since inception

There have been almost 100 prosecutions since the introduction of Coco's Law, which criminalises sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent.

The Department of Justice has undertaken an operational review of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, which came into effect in 2021.

Coco's Law was named after Nicole 'Coco’ Fox, who died by suicide following years of abuse and harassment online.

Under the Act, there are two offences which criminalise the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

The penalties include fines and/or up to seven years imprisonment.

The review undertaken by the Department of Justice examined the number of reports of intimate image abuse made to a hotline for illegal content, and general awareness of the legislation.

It found that the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions took 99 cases under the Act between its commencement in 2021 and the end of 2023.

It also found that the number of charges issued by An Garda Síochána also rose in that time. In 2021, there were 22 charges brought. In 2022, that rose to 95, and in 2023 it rose again to 113.

Independent research six months after the law was introduced found that 69% of people thought it was against the law to share intimate images without consent. 51% thought it was against the law to threaten to share intimate images.

However, the review notes that a follow-up piece of research conducted in November last year found that those figures had jumped to 97% and 96%, following a public awareness campaign.

As part of that campaign, the Department of Justice partnered with Hotline.ie to provide a widely accessible reporting mechanism for victims of intimate image abuse.

Once illegal content is reported to Hotline, their experts assess the report and decide on next steps. Any online service provider served by Hotline.ie with an intimate image abuse notice is responsible for removing the content at source.

The review found that between September 2021 and December 2023 almost 1,500 reports were made to Hotline.ie which, after assessment, were found to be intimate image abuse.

In total 1,006 of these were images or videos shared without the person’s consent via publicly accessible web-locations. Hotline.ie was able to get 92% removed.

Hotline.ie also received more than 400 reports relating to threats to share intimate images. This included 366 cases of sexual extortion and 27 threats to share intimate images for harassment purposes.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee described the positive impact of the legislation as "heartening".

She described the sharing of an intimate image of someone without their consent as "an abhorrent form of sexual abuse and a serious crime".

"Making people aware of this legislation was - and continues to be - a major focus for us, and our awareness campaigns on intimate image abuse have been successful. I know that An Garda Síochána anticipates that the numbers of prosecutions will continue to rise as further reports are received and criminal investigations then progress," she said.