UK government announces that creating and sharing sexually explicit 'deepfakes' will be a crime

On January 7, 2025 local time, the UK Ministry of Justice and Alex Davies-Jones MP announced that 'the creation of sexually explicit

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-crackdown-on-explicit-deepfakes

Britain to make sexually explicit 'deepfakes' a crime | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-make-sexually-explicit-deepfakes-crime-2025-01-07/

UK confirms plans to criminalize the creation of sexually explicit deepfake content | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/07/uk-confirms-plans-to-criminalize-the-creation-of-sexually-explicit-deepfake-content/

UK to Make Creation of Sexually Explicit Deepfakes Criminal Offense
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/uk-sexually-explicit-deepfakes-criminal-offense-1236102917/

Regarding sexually explicit deepfakes, the UK government said: 'The proliferation of hyper-realistic images (created using deepfakes) is occurring at an alarming rate and is having a devastating effect on victims, particularly the women and girls who are so often targeted.'

So, as part of its mission to make our cities safer, the UK government has announced that it will make it a criminal offence to create sexually explicit deepfakes in an effort to crack down on vile online abuse. If you create a sexually explicit deepfake, you could be prosecuted.

The UK government also explained that people could be prosecuted not just for creating deepfakes, but also for sharing them, writing: 'This measure is not only about cracking down on abhorrent behaviour, but also making it clear that there is no excuse for creating sexually explicit deepfakes without the consent of the person involved.'

Ms Jones said: 'It is unacceptable that one in three women are the victim of online abuse. This degrading and abhorrent form of sexism cannot be allowed to be normalised. As part of our change plan, the Government will tackle violence against women in all its forms. These new offences will help prevent people from becoming victims online. The Government is serving a warning to perpetrators - they will face the full enforcement of the law.'

The government also explained that 'taking intimate images without the person's consent' and 'installing camera equipment for criminal purposes' would also be crimes.

It is already illegal to share intimate images without consent and to threaten to share intimate images that you have taken, but previously it was only illegal to take images without consent in certain circumstances, such as upskirt photography.

From now on, anyone taking sexual images without consent in the UK will be sentenced to up to two years in prison, and anyone who installs equipment enabling themselves or others to take sexual images without consent will also be sentenced to up to two years in prison.

The announcement fulfils the government's manifesto to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes and the Law Commission's recommendations on intimate images, saying: 'This will enable law enforcement to effectively tackle the misuse of non-consensual intimate images, in addition to the existing offence of sharing intimate images without consent.'

These new offences come after the Government took steps to add the offence of sharing intimate images as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act in September 2024, putting the onus on platforms to eradicate and remove this type of content and making them vulnerable to enforcement action by Ofcom, the UK's telecommunications and broadcasting regulator.

Although details of this announcement will be released at a later date, the UK government has shared the following seven points as detailed information:

The criminalization of sexually explicit deepfakes also applies to images of adults, because the act is already illegal if the images are of children (under 18).
- Sharing or threatening to share intimate images, including deepfakes, is already a criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, as amended by the Online Safety Act 2023.
The Government will abolish two existing voyeurism offences relating to recording an individual's private activities and recording footage under clothing, and replace them with a series of new offences.
- Taking intimate photographs or videos without consent or reasonable belief is illegal.
- Taking intimate photographs or videos without consent with the intent to cause anxiety, distress or humiliation is illegal.
- It is unlawful to take intimate photographs or videos of yourself or another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without their consent or reasonable belief.
It is an offence to install, adapt, prepare or maintain equipment with the intent to enable yourself or another person to commit one of the three criminal offences of taking intimate images without consent.