Georgia Harrison Calls for Action Against Revenge Porn in New Documentary

LONDON, England – Georgia Harrison, a reality television star known for her appearances on Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex, is speaking out about the ongoing trauma caused by a sexually explicit video of her that continues to circulate online. In her new two-part ITV documentary, “Georgia Harrison: Porn, Power, Profit,” she opens up about the challenges of dealing with the widespread availability of the footage, especially after her former partner, Stephen Bear, was convicted of sharing it without her consent.

Bear, 35, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2023 after being found guilty of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress. He only served half of that sentence and was released in January 2024. Following his release, Bear was ordered to pay £22,305, the amount he earned from sharing the video on OnlyFans.

In the documentary, Harrison, now 30, reveals her emotional struggle with the video’s lingering presence online. “The hardest part for me was having to see how widespread my video still is. I receive a lot of messages regularly from people who send me clips of it. It’s always in the back of my mind, but facing it head on was a real struggle for me,” she said.

Harrison emphasized the importance of understanding how prevalent such videos can be. “What we wanted to do was get to the bottom of who is behind the posting of image-based sexual abuse that’s still out there,” Harrison explained. Throughout the documentary, she investigates various platforms that host the content, saying, “By doing that we could then decipher how many different sites it was on.”

As part of her investigations, Harrison meets with fellow victims, journalists, and even a representative from a porn site, discussing the systemic issues that allow such exploitation to persist. She also spoke to members of Parliament regarding the need for more robust policies to address image-based sexual abuse: “There needs to be more awareness and for the government and internet companies to collaborate and tackle this issue seriously,” she said.

Harrison continued, “If we can stop those at the top from investing in advertising unconsented material, we can discourage those below from posting it because it won’t be profitable for them.” She highlighted the broader societal impact, particularly concerning the growing issue of deepfakes, which utilize artificial intelligence to create realistic fake images and videos.

“Many parents have reached out to me about AI-generated fake videos they’ve come across involving their children,” she mentioned. “It evokes the same feelings of humiliation and violation, as if being de-clothed without consent. Just because it’s fake, doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect the victim’s emotions,” she added.

The Online Safety Act was passed by the previous Conservative government in 2023, aiming to protect social media users from harmful content, but critics argue that it is not enough. Labour technology secretary Peter Kyle recently described UK laws on internet safety as “very uneven” and “unsatisfactory.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has planned measures to make the UK the first country to criminalize the possession of AI tools designed to create images of child sexual abuse, punishable by up to five years in prison. Harrison hopes that her documentary will raise awareness about these pressing issues and lead to legislative change.

“I have faith that eventually we will live in a world where unconsented imagery is far harder to share, especially on the normal web,” Harrison concluded. Her documentary, “Georgia Harrison: Porn, Power, Profit,” airs on ITV2 and ITVX on February 18 and 19 at 9 PM.