Irish mother urges EU-wide ‘Coco’s Law’ to combat cyberbullying and AI-altered intimate images
STRASBOURG — An Irish woman whose daughter died by suicide after years of abuse urged the European Parliament to adopt stronger, harmonized laws against online harassment and the sharing of intimate images, warning that AI-altered content is making harm “worse and worse.”
- Advertisement -
Addressing members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Strasbourg to mark International Women’s Day, Jackie Fox called for EU-wide safeguards modeled on Ireland’s Coco’s Law, legislation inspired by her daughter Nicole, known as Coco, who died in 2018.
“Coco’s Law is bigger than one country,” Fox told MEPs. “Protect every adult and child before it’s too late. Please let Nicole’s story be the reason we change the future.”
Fox described how her daughter was subjected to relentless physical and online abuse for three and a half years. “She was a vibrant, funny, bubbly young woman,” she said, adding that in the months after Nicole’s death, “I couldn’t even breathe, I was crying that much.”
Widely known as Coco’s Law, Ireland’s legislation criminalizes serious online harassment and the sharing of intimate images without consent. Authorities have brought at least 240 prosecutions since it came into force.
Fox urged lawmakers to replicate those protections across the European Union and to update them to address manipulated content. “There needs to be a law to prosecute people who think it’s okay to share an intimate image of someone or to change someone’s face or remove their clothes,” she said.
She noted that the Irish government has said it will not oppose amending Coco’s Law to explicitly include AI-generated intimate images. “Which is brilliant,” Fox said, “but the rest of Europe needs to do the same.”
MEPs gave Fox a standing ovation, with several members appearing visibly moved in the chamber. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola praised her as “one of Europe’s heroines.”
“The loss of a child is beyond what most of us can even begin to imagine,” Metsola said. “But what you then chose to do with that grief — to stand up, to speak out and to fight so that no other family would ever have to go through what yours did — that is heroism.”
Speaking to RTÉ News after her address, Fox reflected on the reaction to her plea. “I so struggle with the word ‘pride’ because I shouldn’t have to do any of this,” she said. “But seeing the standing ovation, tears in their eyes — it just means that they’re empathetic. They see what I’ve done and most of all, every single person that walked out of that room knows who my little girl is.”
“She’s in their heart or she’s in their head, and that’s so important to me,” Fox added.
Her appeal sharpened the spotlight on cyberbullying and nonconsensual image abuse — increasingly amplified by AI tools — and pressed European lawmakers to move toward consistent rules and enforcement so “no other family will face this pain.”
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
