UK Announces Tough New Legislation to Criminalize Sexually Explicit Deepfakes, Offenders Face Up to Two Years in Prison

Ravi Singh

The United Kingdom Government has announced new legislation targeting the rising issue of “deepfakes,” especially sexually explicit content, which has become an alarming concern. The UK introduced stricter laws on Tuesday aimed at curbing the creation, sharing, and dissemination of AI-generated images, videos, and audio clips that depict fake explicit material. These deepfakes, often hyper-realistic, manipulate real people into compromising and inappropriate situations, posing a severe threat, especially to women and girls who are disproportionately targeted.

It continues in the steps from the previously created legislation for revenge porn, as this form of material was banned in 2015. Deepfakes can be distributed, as well as created, so this is becoming illegal as exploitation increases. Now, under this new legislation, capturing an intimate image of an individual without permission is now also illegal and any device meant for the same reason.

Baroness Jones, the UK Tech Minister, highlighted the responsibility of tech companies in preventing the spread of harmful content. “Platforms that host this kind of material will face stricter scrutiny and severe penalties. We cannot allow this toxic online culture to continue unchecked,” she stated.

The new offences have been welcomed by victims’ groups and lawmakers alike, who emphasize the urgent need to tackle online abuse. Welsh minister Alex Davies-Jones decried intimate image abuse growth as “abhorrent exploitation of victims who fuels toxic culture online.” “There’s now evidence that one in three women in the world has been subjected to some form of online abuse; it is our job to try to sort that misogyny,” she emphasized. “This type of cyber bullying is unacceptable. It demeaning and degrading, and we are more than determined that those responsible would face severe punishment,” Davies-Jones added.

Offenders—both the creators or the ones responsible for installing those devices to snap those images under the new act—may also receive a penalty that could get them imprisoned up to two years. This also complements earlier commitment of the conservative government in the April 2024 move; this was marked by a sharp position against individuals exploiting the improper use of the AI technology.

The government press release stated that making or distributing such harmful deepfakes will not be tolerated, further driving the point that this is a crime and will incur severe legal action.