The Sunday Mirror has apologised after pictures of women were used without their consent on a Twitter profile which communicated with Conservative MP Brooks Newmark. Here’s what you can do if you find out someone has been using your pictures online without your consent

What do you do if someone tries to impersonate you on social networks or dating sites? Photograph: Anatolii Babii / Alamy/Alamy

What do you do if someone tries to impersonate you on social networks or dating sites? Photograph: Anatolii Babii / Alamy/Alamy

Two women’s social media profiles unwittingly became part of a sexting sting which led to the resignation of a Conservative MP this week.

The Sunday Mirror’s editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley has since apologised for the unauthorised use of the women’s pictures, which were used by a freelance reporter to create a fictional 20-something Tory PR woman on Twitter. �Sophie Wittams� convinced Conservative MP Brooks Newmark to send explicit photos of himself after exchanging several DMs over Twitter.

In fact, �Sophie� was a male reporter, her Twitter profile picture actually of a Swedish model. It has also transpired the pictures she was sending Newe from another woman’s Twitter account.

The story has re-emphasised just how easy it is to take photos from social media and use them for arguably unethical purposes. There are often reports about both men and women finding their pictures or online identity used by other people, whether it’s on a social network or via a dating site. Lees verder →