Australia outlawing sharing of ‘deepfake’ pornography

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia’s government has announced new legislation making it a criminal offense to share deepfake pornographic images of people without their consent.

The law, to be introduced to parliament in the coming week, would bring in jail sentences of up to six years for sharing non-consensual deepfake pornography.

The penalty rises to seven years if the offender also created the material.

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

“We know it overwhelmingly affects women and girls who are the target of this kind of deeply offensive and harmful behavior. It can inflict deep, long-lasting harm on victims.”

The new criminal offense would only apply to adults since children are already protected under separate child abuse legislation.