UK Law Regarding Sexting

[Guest]

I can’t seem to find a concrete answer on this anywhere. I’ve searched the web for ages...anyway, what is the current UK law(s) regarding sexting between an adult (18+) and someone who is between 16-17? I’m not talking sending images or videos, but purely sexually explicit conversations.

Thanks.

[paulajayne]

Best bet is don't, as it could come back to haunt you.

[des8]

I think you are safe from the law.
Section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 inserted a new offence into the Sexual Offences Act 2003, at section 15A, criminalising sexual communication with a person under 16 years of age

[Amethyst]

Completely agree with Paula, just don't.

A) With regards 'sexting' https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga...42/section/15A ( offence for person over 18 to sext child under 16 )

B) With regards pictures - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/37 ( under 18 )

A leads far too easily to B. So just don't.

( Sorry Des , I crossed posts getting the links xxx )

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies. Just to confirm; I haven’t been sexting with anyone under 18, however I have been talking to someone who was 17 but said she was 18. The conversations weren’t sexually explicit but there may have been some “undesirable” messages hinting at sexual things.

[Amethyst]

You haven't committed an offence at the moment ( assuming chats were two way and consensual of course) and it's good you've realised things might have been heading in that direction so you can try and draw a line under it xx

[Guest]

Do you think I should delete any inappropriate messages? Again, thanks for the reply its much appreciated.

[Amethyst]

I might be inclined to keep copies just in case any future allegations are made that you might need evidence in order to counter.

[R0b]

Just to add, don't instigate or suggest or lead the girl on (without explicitly saying) to sending you images as that's not going to go well for you either. Obviously if you are in a position where she randomly sends you a photo for no reason then you might be wise to tell her not to do that anymore and delete it.

Normally a bit of common sense applies and I agree with Ame that you might want to consider keeping/backing up those messages rather than delete them because if for some reason you fall out with this girl or it leads nothing, you may be accused of something that didn't happen. Not that I am saying it definitely will, but there have been some cases of this in the news recently.

[Guest]

I was thinking of deleting my instagram account anyway for a long time and making another (for other reasons, not this whole situation I’ve got myself worked up over). So that’s not a good idea either?

Thanks.

[pt2537]

Guys, id hate to throw a spanner in the works, but could the Communications Act 2003 bite?

I say this because it applies to electronic comms, it covers indecent or obscene messages, which could catch this case possibly? Its here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127

[Amethyst]

I was thinking of deleting my instagram account anyway for a long time and making another (for other reasons, not this whole situation I’ve got myself worked up over). So that's not a good idea either?

Thanks.

I thought you were talking about SMS text messages ? You've been chatting on DM/PM's through Instagram ? ( Okay I don't really know how Instagram works )

Don't send anything over the internet that you wouldn't be happy for your mother, the police, employer, and everyone in the universe to see. Things get hacked and exposed and screenshotted and then misconstrued, misrepresented and used against you.

Remember if you delete things sent/received from your account, the person you sent them to/received them from also has copies in their account, and the messages could well be stored in the database for some time after you delete them. ( Facebook you can reinstate your account years after you thought you'd deleted it for instance...

If I want to keep anything I remove from online etc I usually print the page as a PDF and store it as a file, just in case I need to go back to it later.

And just it case it has been a bit one sided it's worth having a read of the Comms Act as Paul says.

[Guest]

Yes sorry I should’ve mentioned it was Instagram in my original post. I have decided to not delete anything then as this makes me look guilty even though I’ve done nothing wrong due to the fact I firmly believed this person to be 18 (with screenshots to prove it). Thoughts?

Thanks.

[Amethyst]

Well, I would assume that similar rules will apply to the 16 year old 'reasonable belief' defence ( … B is under 16 and A does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over. ... from https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/15A )

Has anything happened to instigate your concerns about this? or just that you found out the other person was under 18?

[Guest]

I found out she was lying about her age in a post to her friend which made me think all this up and started just worrying like crazy over it.