The UK government has announced plans to make the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images a criminal offense, in a bid to better protect women and girls. This move aims to address the growing concern of deepfake images, which have proliferated at an alarming rate in recent years, causing devastating harm to victims.
Under the new law, perpetrators could face prosecution and an unlimited fine for creating and sharing these images. Additionally, the government plans to designate taking intimate images without consent and installing equipment to that end as new offenses, with perpetrators facing up to two years in prison.
Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones emphasized that the current laws have gaps, and the government is broadening them to make it more robust to protect women and girls. She noted that one in three women in the UK are victims of intimate images being made or shared, which is “awful” and “horrific”.
The new offenses will be included in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, which will be unveiled when parliamentary time allows. However, the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) has urged ministers to speed up introducing the plans, citing concerns about the effectiveness of the new law.
