United Kingdom: Rejected amendment to Criminal Justice Bill criminalising creation of sexually explicit deepfakes

On 30 May 2024, an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill criminalising the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes without consent was automatically rejected with the end of the legislative session after it failed to be adopted or carried over to the next session. The Bill would have made the creation of deepfake images a criminal offence, subjecting offenders to prosecution and an unlimited fine, with potential imprisonment if the images were distributed. Last year, reforms in the Online Safety Act criminalised the sharing of "deepfake" intimate images for the first time. The amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill would have criminalised the creation of these sexually explicit deepfake images of adults without their consent.