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The United Kingdom Government on Tuesday announced its plans to make the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes a criminal offence. The new legislation targets the growing issue of "hyper-realistic" digital content, which has become an alarming concern, particularly for women and girls who are often the primary victims. The deepfakes, which are images, videos, or audio clips artificially generated using AI to resemble real people, can be manipulated to depict anyone in compromising or inappropriate situations.

The UK government, in its official press release, emphasised that these new measures aim to send a strong message: creating or sharing these harmful and degrading images will not be tolerated and will be treated as a criminal act. 

Baroness Jones, the UK Tech Minister, stressed the responsibility of tech companies in curbing such content, stating that platforms hosting these types of images would face greater scrutiny and severe penalties.

“The rise of intimate image abuse is a horrifying trend that exploits victims and perpetuates a toxic online culture. These acts are not just cowardly, they are deeply damaging, particularly for women and girls who are disproportionately targeted,” said Jones. 

UK Minister Vows Tough Action

Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones emphasised that the new offences are designed to prevent online victimisation and ensure offenders face severe legal consequences. She highlighted that sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent is already illegal.

“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,” said Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones.

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Two-Year Prison Sentence For Offenders

The new legislation builds on existing laws surrounding revenge porn, which was criminalised in 2015, and now includes deepfakes depicting fake explicit images and videos. In addition, new offences will criminalise the taking of intimate images without consent and the installation of equipment designed to facilitate such actions. 

Under the new rules, offenders, including those who install devices to capture such images, could face up to two years in prison. The move follows a similar announcement made by the previous Conservative government in April 2024.

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