The practice of "revenge porn”—in which someone posts or distributes a nude or sexually explicit photo of another person without their consent—was made illegal in England and Wales on Thursday. The rule will come into law later this year, the BBC reports.

In the bill, which was approved by Queen Elizabeth II today, revenge porn is defined as photos or films of people who have not consented to the distribution of the image or film and who are "engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed, where what is shown would not usually be seen in public.” Media posted on social networks, sent via text, or even physically distributed will be governed by the new rule.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are also considering similar laws. The BBC says that between January 1, 2012 and July 1, 2014, 149 allegations of revenge porn were made in the two countries. Only six of those resulted in police action against the accused.

A hotline has also been set up to advise victims if they find revenge porn of themselves posted.

Scrubbing unwanted photos off of websites is difficult, especially if the website’s servers are housed outside of the country. Victims are also often reluctant to report harassing photos for fear that more attention would be drawn to the photo in the first place. In some cases, the best legal resort in places without a revenge porn law is to prosecute a poster for violation of copyright if, say, the image was a selfie.

But criminalizing revenge porn is also controversial—opponents say that while revenge porn is deplorable, creating a criminal distinction for alleged revenge porn posters limits free speech unnecessarily. California is one of the few places in the world with a criminal law against posting revenge porn. While the Los Angeles District Attorney won its first conviction against a man for posting about his ex-girlfriend, a more notorious revenge porn poster, San Diego resident Kevin Bollaert, was found guilty of identity theft and extortion earlier this month. Bollaert was not charged under California’s revenge porn law.