If you distribute pornography with someone other than yourself in it, and that person does not agree with it, you are committing a criminal offense. But what if it’s not real? How is the spread of deepfake porn handled? It’s made by computer, so it doesn’t bother anyone, right?
Spreading deepfake porn
Certainly: spreading deepfake porn will soon also be prohibited. There is currently no official law against it, but the European Union is working on a law that would ban it. The European Council and Parliament have agreed on a bill on deepfake porn, but there are conditions. In itself, distributing AI porn is not prohibited, but with a deepfake someone is deliberately digitally imitated. An example of a deepfake are the images of Taylor Swift, which were recently taken in a kind of cheerleading outfit in an NFL stadium. Something the real Taylor wouldn’t do, and certainly wouldn’t photograph and distribute.
It should be prohibited to distribute these types of images, so that perpetrators can be punished for it, but potentially also so that social media can be addressed or have more power to address users of their platform about it. This form of cyber violence is becoming increasingly common together with the rise of AI. Time to put an end to that, or at least make it considerably less attractive to spread it.
Legislation against cyber violence
More things fall under the upcoming cyber violence legislation, because sharing intimate photos without permission is also part of it, such as images of your ex out of revenge, or even of someone who does not want that. Cyberstalking, cyberflashing and online intimidation will soon become punishable at European level and that is good news for people who live in fear because exes threaten this.
This is extremely problematic, especially among young people: earlier this week it was announced that more than 33,000 young people have been victims of forwarding nude images in the past six months. Research by Rutgers and STD Aids describes: “One in a hundred young people has experienced in the past six months that their own intimate photo or video was distributed against their will.”
Cyber flashing already banned
In short, this type of legislation is important. In the Netherlands there is already legislation against cyberflashing, which is sending nude images to strangers via AirDrop, for example. Furthermore, as a victim you currently have little to rely on if someone makes a deepfake of you and sends it around. You can rely on the GDPR or another law, but they are not very clear on this topic specifically. Unfortunately, it will take some time before European legislation is in place: this is not expected until 2027.
What will be resolved sooner is the revision of the rules when it comes to sexual exploitation of children. This mainly concerns adding AI-generated images or deepfakes. This is not specifically mentioned at the moment and the EU would like to have it added, just like the fact that live streaming of child abuse will soon be a separate, criminal offense if the European Council and Parliament agree to this.
