The British government makes it a criminal offense to create and distribute deepfake porn. Doing so can lead to an unlimited fine. Distributing it involves a possible prison sentence under the new proposal.
It is an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill and builds on the criminalization of upskirting years ago, the British cabinet reports. “The new law means that if someone creates a sexually explicit deepfake, even if that person has no intention of sharing it but only wants to cause panic, humiliation or distress to the victim, that person is committing a criminal offense.” p>
According to the cabinet, the change is necessary because there is a new way of mistreatment of women and girls in particular, and the cabinet sees this as a spearhead in its policy. “The government has also reclassified violence against women and girls as a national threat. This means that police must prioritize their response to this, just as they do with threats such as terrorism, as well as ongoing work to tackle image-related abuse .”
Creating deepfake porn and sharing it are two separate criminal offenses under the law, so the penalty for violating both rules is higher. In the Netherlands, making deepfake porn is already a punishable offense and one perpetrator has already been convicted.