By Vikrant Rana, Anuradha Gandhi and Rachita Thakur
On April 16, 2024, the UK has introduced a new law criminalizing the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes which is to be brought through an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. [1] As a result, those who create sexual images of people without their consent shall face criminal record and unlimited fine. If the image is further distributed or circulated, offenders could be sent to jail.
The step comes in to strengthen the existing offences and to penalize those who degrade and dehumanize others, especially women.
There have been reforms in the UK’s Online Safety Act in 2023 that criminalized the sharing of “deepfake” intimate images for the first time. However, the new offence which will be introduced through an amendment in the Criminal Justice Bill will penalize anyone who makes these sexually explicit deepfake images of adults maliciously and without consent.
This new introduction has been lauded by the Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, Laura Farris who stated, “This new offence sends a crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime.”
Criminal Justice Bill- Classification and re-classification of offences
The changes in the Criminal Justice Bill will build on the existing ‘upskirting offence’ making it a criminal offence to:
- intentionally take or record an intimate image or film without consent or a reasonable belief in consent
- take or record an intimate image or film without consent and
- with intent to cause alarm, distress or humiliation; or
- for the purpose of sexual gratification
Furthermore, the UK Government has also re-classified violence against women and girls as a national threat and this would mean that the police must prioritize their response to the same putting it at the same level as terrorism.
The maximum number of victims of the deepfakes have been young girls and celebrities[2]. A study conducted in the United Kingdom in 2022 found that 27 percent of victims of image-based sexual abuse were women between the ages of 30 and 39 years, whilst 15 percent of victims were women between the ages of 21 and 29 years. Furthermore, 10 percent of victims of intimate image abuse in the UK were girls aged 16 years or younger. Women were significantly more likely to be victims of revenge porn than men throughout all age groups. [3]
Akshay Krishnan, Intern at S.S Rana & Co. has assisted in the research of the article.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-cracks-down-on-deepfakes-creation
[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1319889/uk-victims-of-intimate-image-abuse-by-age-and-gender/
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