The British government today announced it’s taking a zero-tolerance stance against sexually explicit deepfakes by introducing a new law that will mean creators of such content are at risk of being convicted of a crime even if they don’t share the video or image.

AI-generated deepfake pornography videos have been around for a while, so much so that the content has become a genre in the more prurient corners of the internet. In 2018, a number of porn websites as well as message boards banned such videos, but it hasn’t stopped what has been called “involuntary pornography” being shared online.

In 2018, the actress Scarlett Johansson called the internet a “lawless abyss” after she became a victim of deepfake celebrity porn. Just recently, Taylor Swift aired similar animus against the practice as she also became a victim. With the rise of generative AI and the fact that it’s now much easier to create deepfakes, there have been calls to introduce new laws against such content in the U.S.

But the U.K. has taken up the mantle in this fight, with its Ministry of Justice explaining that just by creating a sexually explicit AI-generated image, a person could be handed a heavy fine and gain a criminal record. If the image or video is subsequently shared, that could mean prison.

Under the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill, the sweeping legislation the U.K. introduced to tame the “Wild West” of the internet – it has also been called Orwellian given its invasive nature – it was already illegal to share such content, but now just the process of making it could get someone in trouble.

“The new law will mean that if someone creates a sexually explicit deepfake, even if they have no intent to share it but purely want to cause alarm, humiliation or distress to the victim, they will be committing a criminal offense,” explained the ministry. The country’s Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, Laura Farris, said this sends a “crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime.”

“It is another example of ways in which certain people seek to degrade and dehumanize others – especially women,” she added. “And it has the capacity to cause catastrophic consequences if the material is shared more widely. This government will not tolerate it.”

The new law falls under the Criminal Justice Bill, another controversial piece of legislation that Amnesty International has called “alarming” regarding its capacity to curtail British freedoms. At the moment, it’s uncertain just how the U.K. authorities will actually know people have created a deepfake video in the privacy of their own home, which could mean more of the mass surveillance the country is fast becoming well-known for.

Photo: Gaelle Marcel/Flickr