A powerful new BBC radio documentary Degraded by Deepfakes explores the experiences of ‘Jodie’ who had deepfake porn made of her without her consent, by a man she had thought of as a close friend.
I participated in the documentary, arguing that it’s now so easy to create deepfake sexual abuse material (‘deepfake porn’) that the ‘invisible threat’ of being deepfaked now pervades the lives of women and girls. Deepfake porn can be made of any of us without our consent by anyone, at any time and there is very little we can do about it.
This is why I suggest in my latest comment that it’s time to consider criminalising the creation of deepfake porn without consent. While UK laws now criminalise sharing deepfake porn without consent, they do not cover its creation. The possibility of creation alone implants fear and threat into women’s lives: the image is the threat.
I also recommend the introduction of new civil powers to enable judges to order internet platforms and perpetrators to take-down and/or delete imagery and require compensation to be paid where appropriate.
I have written a more detailed Policy Briefing which sets out the legal background, technological developments and arguments for reform.
Further information:
Read my Policy Briefing here which sets out the legal background and arguments for the criminalisation the creation of deepfake porn without consent.
Read my comment Deepfake porn: why we need to make it a crime to create it, not just share it.
Listen to the full BBC radio File on 4 documentary here and you can watch/listen to an edited version on YouTube here and the news report here.
Read my comment on the Spanish case of teenagers nudifying their classmates and how Google must act to remove or down-rank deepfake porn websites from its search.
Read more about my research on deepfake porn and what legal and policy changes are needed to challenge this abuse here.