Calls to treat ‘deepfake’ videos as a sex crime
Those who make explicit clips to humiliate others should sign the offenders’ register, says Tory MP
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‘When victims talk about the impact on them, they liken it to sexual abuse in the offline world’
‘What I am calling for is something that will stop the perpetual catch-up that we have to play with the tech industry’
PEOPLE who make pornographic “deepfake” videos to humiliate others should be convicted of a sex crime and sign the offenders’ register, a former culture secretary has said.
Maria Miller, a Conservative MP, said the trauma caused to victims who had false explicit images digitally made of them was so severe it needed to be treated on a par with offline sexual offences.
She also expressed alarm at how widely available deepfake technology, which lets users edit photos so people appear to be naked or performing sexual acts, has become.
Her call comes as deepfake technology is now so advanced tech giants such as the Photoshop edit software company Adobe have launched a website where people can check if online photographs have been manipulated.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Miller said: “When victims talk about the impact on them, they liken it to sexual abuse in the offline world and the fact that the law doesn’t treat it that way shows there is a significant problem to be solved.
“The fact that it is not clearly against the law means that more people are likely to look at this and potentially become involved in it until we have the sort of sanctions that are needed.”
While the sharing of someone’s intimate images online, sometimes called “revenge porn”, is a crime, making and publishing deepfake versions is a legal grey area.
The Law Commission recommended earlier this year that the Government strengthen the law around intimate image abuse, including digitally manipulated images.
Mrs Miller said she wants to go further and make it a sex crime to create and distribute intimate deepfake images and also to use nudification software to create nude images.
This would mean that those convicted would have to sign the sex offenders’ register, which is a requirement for any sex offence committed against a child or adult.
Mrs Miller said: “To have a sexually explicit image of yourself distributed around the world without your consent is something that is deeply distressing for anyone.
“What I am calling for is something that will stop the perpetual catch-up that we have to play with the tech industry where the law is lagging behind the imagination of IT entrepreneurs who seem to want to make profit out of the humiliation particularly of women.”
Mrs Miller, who served as David Cameron’s culture secretary and minister for women and equalities between 2012 and 2014, began to become alarmed by the rise of intimate image abuse after hearing of traumatic cases from constituents.
In recent years, she has become a vocal champion of strengthening the law on the practice, warning that it is overwhelmingly targeted at women.
Another trauma that victims of deepfake abuse face is the struggle to have the image removed from the internet.
Victims often have to petition a patchwork of tech companies to have the images deleted, knowing that copies could be reposted at any time. However, the Government is drawing up new duty-of-care laws, which The Telegraph has campaigned for since 2018, that mean tech companies will have to remove legal material from their sites.
If intimate deepfakes are criminalised, social media giants could face fines running into the billions if they fail to take down those images swiftly.
Mrs Miller said she also wants to see some of the money the Treasury is set to make from the new regime, which will be overseen by Ofcom, go towards supporting the victims of intimate image abuse.
She added: “What I would propose is that part of that money did not go straight to the Treasury but went straight to the charitable organisations who do incredible work to support victims.”