Taylor Swift’s viral deepfakes have put new momentum behind efforts to clamp down on deepfake porn. The White Home stated the incident was “alarming” and urged Congress to take legislative motion. So far, the US has had a piecemeal, state-by-state strategy to regulating the expertise. For instance, California and Virginia have banned the creation of pornographic deepfakes made with out consent. New York and Virginia additionally ban the distribution of this type of content material. 

Nevertheless, we might lastly see motion on a federal stage. A brand new bipartisan invoice that might make sharing faux nude photos a federal crime was just lately reintroduced within the US Congress. A deepfake porn scandal at a New Jersey highschool has additionally pushed lawmakers to reply with a invoice known as the Stopping Deepfakes of Intimate Pictures Act. The eye Swift’s case has dropped at the issue may drum up extra bipartisan help. 

Lawmakers world wide are additionally pushing stricter legal guidelines for the expertise. The UK’s On-line Security Act, handed final yr, outlaws the sharing of deepfake porn materials, however not its creation. Perpetrators might withstand six months of jail time. 

Within the European Union, a bunch of latest payments sort out the issue from totally different angles. The sweeping AI Act requires deepfake creators to obviously disclose that the fabric was created by AI, and the Digital Providers Act would require tech firms to take away dangerous content material rather more shortly. 

China’s deepfake legislation, which entered into power in 2023, goes the furthest. In China, deepfake creators have to take steps to forestall using their companies for unlawful or dangerous functions, ask for consent from customers earlier than making their photos into deepfakes, authenticate individuals’s identities, and label AI-generated content material. 

Execs: Regulation will supply victims recourse, maintain creators of nonconsensual deepfake pornography accountable, and create a strong deterrent. It additionally sends a transparent message that creating nonconsensual deepfakes will not be acceptable. Legal guidelines and public consciousness campaigns making it clear that individuals who create this type of deepfake porn are intercourse offenders might have an actual influence, says Ajder. “That might change the marginally blasé perspective that some individuals have towards this sort of content material as not dangerous or not an actual type of sexual abuse,” he says. 

Cons: It is going to be troublesome to implement these kinds of legal guidelines, says Ajder. With present strategies, it will likely be laborious for victims to determine who has assaulted them and construct a case in opposition to that particular person. The particular person creating the deepfakes may additionally be in a special jurisdiction, which makes prosecution tougher.