A bill criminalising the non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes has passed Parliament and will become law.
Under the new law, anyone who shares sexual material of another adult without their consent – including AI-generated images and videos – faces penalties of up to seven years in prison.
The bill will now be signed into law by the Governor-General.
Deepfakes
In June, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introduced a bill to Parliament to criminalise the sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes without consent.
Deepfakes are realistic fabricated or manipulated videos and/or images. They are designed to mislead viewers and can be made using AI.
In a statement today, the Attorney-General’s office said these images “are overwhelmingly targeted towards women and girls, perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes and contributing to gender-based violence.”
Opposition
Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said the Opposition supported “the intention behind the bill”, but believed existing laws already covered deepfakes.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters criticised the bill’s failure to criminalise “the creation of [deepfakes] in the first place… it would be better that the images weren’t so easy for anyone with internet access to create and then share.”
