Consultation on violence against women and girls

Victim Support Scotland have welcomed the announcement of a new Scottish Government consultation that will seek views on what can be done to prevent and address violence against women and girls. 

Debbie Adams, Interim Chief Executive at Victim Support Scotland, said:

“We thoroughly welcome the new consultation from the Scottish Government, which will focus on what can be done to prevent and address violence against women and girls.

“A holistic approach is paramount, and we would highlight online and technology-facilitated harm in particular - it is a key issue in our manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections. Violence against women and girls is a national emergency, and one of the areas that most urgently needs to be addressed is the tide of unregulated, AI-generated deepfake content that has saturated the online world.

“The creation of a new offence to cover these deepfakes is sorely needed. We want the legislation to go further and extend the offence beyond intimate images and to include other harms, as VSS has dealt with situations where deepfakes have been created of women who have been murdered.

“Ultimately, we hope the creation of a new offence, specifically around AI-generated deepfakes, would encourage more women to report these incidents, and prevent them from becoming a normalised online experience for women and girls.”

You can view Victim Support Scotland's manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections below.