Creating and sharing explicit AI deepfake images to become criminal offence in government crackdown
7 January 2025, 00:23 | Updated: 7 January 2025, 00:50
Ministers will crack down on sexually explicit deepfake images in new plans to make the practice a criminal offence.
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Deepfakes are images generated or edited using artificial intelligence featuring real people, and often involve the faces of real women edited into sexually explicit images or scenarios.
The number of these false images has spread widely in recent years, and they often feature the likenesses of famous women, including politicians.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said perpetrators of the new offences would "face the full force of the law".
Those who take intimate images of other people without their consent, or who install equipment to take these pictures, could meanwhile face up to two years behind bars under new offences.
With the new deepfakes offence, the Government will target people who are both creating and sharing these images.
Ms Davies-Jones said: "It is unacceptable that one in three women have been victims of online abuse.
"This demeaning and disgusting form of chauvinism must not become normalised, and as part of our Plan for Change we are bearing down on violence against women - whatever form it takes.
"These new offences will help prevent people being victimised online.
"We are putting offenders on notice - they will face the full force of the law."
Read more: Woman, 77, 'totally convinced' by deep fake loses £17K in twisted romance scam
This builds on offences introduced in 2023, which were aimed at clamping down on the sharing of intimate images, including deepfakes.
Plans to outlaw the taking of intimate images without consent will meanwhile streamline existing laws, which have been called a "patchwork" by the Law Commission.
Broadcaster Jess Davies, who has raised awareness about deepfakes before, was among the campaigners who welcomed the plans.
She said intimate-image abuse is "a national emergency that is causing significant, long-lasting harm to women and girls who face a total loss of control over their digital footprint, at the hands of online misogyny".
"Women should not have to accept sexual harassment and abuse as a normal part of their online lives.
“We need urgent action and legislation to better protect women and girls from the mammoth scale of misogyny they are experiencing online," Ms Davies added.
The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) meanwhile urged the Government to set out a timeline for introducing its plans.
Rebecca Hitchen, head of policy and campaigns at EVAW, said: "While we welcome this announcement, we are yet to see a timeline for the offence or any details about the new law, which will be crucial to how effective it is.
"The Government must make good on its commitments to survivors - delaying action will only put women and girls in harm's way.
"We await confirmation that any new law criminalising the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes will be based on consent rather than the perpetrator's intent, cover solicitation of image creation (as well as the creation itself), and be listed as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act."
