The British government has announced that making or sharing sexually explicit “deepfakes” will be an offense within the criminal law. The intent behind this action is to prevent the increasing number of such images that specifically attack women and girls. Deepfake essentially refers to technologies that use artificial intelligence to make a video, picture, or audio clip look real, but its main focus is on digitally altering someone’s naked image into a pornographic image with that person’s likeness.
It became a crime in 2015 to distribute intimate photographs or videos without consent and to cause distress, better known as revenge porn, but this offense does not include fake images. According to data from the UK-based Revenge Porn Helpline, image-based abuse using deepfakes has increased by over 400% since 2017.
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Under the new statute, offenders may be prosecuted for both composing and publishing such images. “There is no justification for making a sexually explicit deepfake of someone without their consent,” was the statement of the justice ministry. Previous announcements of the Conservative administration proposed similar measures, which included fines and jail terms for violators.
Future announcements will further clarify the new offense. The government also has planned further new offenses such as taking intimate images without consent and equipping to commit those offenses. Those found guilty can face up to two years imprisonment.
Curses Minister Alex Davies-Jones pounded the practice, saying, “This demeaning and disgusting type of chauvinism has to be normalised now.” Technology Minister Margaret Jones added that tech platforms hosting abusive images will be subjected to broader scrutiny with a serious penalty.
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Campaigner Jess Davies emphasized the issue: “Intimate image abuse is nothing less than the national emergency causing women and girls devastating, permanent injury, in that total loss of control over their online presence is the result of such abuse.” The crimes will feature as part of the new offenses to be incorporated in the Crime and Policing Bill of the Government before parliament, though not yet with a date set for this event.