Oz bans sharing of “deepfake” pornography

Sydney (AFP) – The Australian government has announced new legislation that will criminalize the sharing of pornographic deepfake images of people without their consent.

The bill, which is due to be presented to Parliament next week, would impose prison sentences of up to six years for sharing deepfake pornography without consent.

The sentence increases to seven years if the perpetrator also created the material.

“Digitally created and altered sexually explicit material shared without consent is a harmful and deeply disturbing form of abuse,” Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement late Saturday.

“We know that it is women and girls who are particularly targeted by this deeply offensive and harmful behaviour. It can cause deep, long-lasting harm to victims.”

The new offence would only apply to adults, as children are already protected by a separate child abuse law.

Countries around the world are grappling with the proliferation of deepfake pornography – digitally created, sexually explicit material typically generated using artificial intelligence.

In April, the UK announced that it would criminalize the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images without consent. If the images are widely distributed, they could face unlimited fines and even imprisonment.