The UK government announced on Friday that people who share so-called “deepfakes” – explicit images or videos manipulated to look like someone without their consent – will face prison time.
According to a proposed amendment to the Online Safety Bill to protect women and girls, such offenders will be among the first to be specifically criminalised and face potential prison time.
The government will also propose a package of new laws to address a variety of abusive behaviours, including the installation of equipment, such as hidden cameras, to take or record images of someone without their consent, according to a statement from the Ministry of Justice.
“This will deliver on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to criminalise the practice, in line with previous measures this government has taken to outlaw ‘upskirting’,” the ministry added.
“We must do more to protect women and girls, from people who take or manipulate intimate photos in order to hound or humiliate them. Our changes will give police and prosecutors the powers they need to bring these cowards to justice and safeguard women and girls from such vile abuse,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab.
The law recognises that intimate image abuse is harmful and illegal, and these reforms will build on government action to address the ever-changing nature of these issues in the digital age.
The government has taken steps to modernise the offences of “revenge pornography” and voyeurism, which are used to prosecute intimate image abuse, as well as harassment, malicious communications, blackmail, and “coercive or controlling behaviour.”
“I welcome these moves by the government which aim to make victims and survivors safer online, on the streets and in their own homes,” said Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs.
The reform package comes in response to growing global concerns about the misuse of new technology, including the increased prevalence of “deepfakes.”
These typically involve the use of editing software to create and share pornographic images or videos of a person without their consent. In the first eight months of 2021, a website that virtually strips women naked received 38 million visits.
