In an effort to combat the growing menace of deepfakes in pornography, Washington state legislators are pushing for laws that would punish the creation and distribution of such content. The bill, which specifically targets deepfake pornography, has received bipartisan support and would categorize the distribution of fabricated intimate images as a criminal offense.
According to Crosscut, Caroline Mullet, daughter of Sen. Mark Mullet, testified about a harrowing incident involving her friends at her high school's homecoming dance in 2023. A boy in her grade manipulated photos of them to appear nude, an act Mullet fears could happen again. "I hate the idea that I should have to worry about this happening again to any of my female friends, my sisters, or even myself," Mullet told lawmakers.
On the federal front, The Defiance Act, a bipartisan congressional proposal was highlighted on The National Desk. Cybersecurity Expert and Privacy Attorney Leeza Garber explained that the act targets the use of non-consensual imagery to harass or defame, noting the staggering statistic that "96% of all deep fake videos are non-consensual pornography."
When Washington state's Issaquah High School fell victim to a deepfake scandal last year, the current laws did not allow for criminal charges, as Axios reported. The proposed legislation would change that by making it a gross misdemeanor to share such content without consent, escalating to felony charges for repeat offenders and those distributing images of minors. In addition, the bill offers a glimmer of hope to victims, as it would permit them to sue the distributors of deepfake pornographic material.
Moreover, the proposed state legislation smoothly cruised through the House earlier this month, without any dissent, and its Senate committee hearing is set for the upcoming Friday. This movement in Washington aligns with a trend where, so far, 10 states have enacted laws against deepfake exploitation. Meanwhile, at the national level, proposals such as the Defiance Act aim to provide civil remedies for identifiable victims of digital forgery, filling a void left by current federal law that does not regulate these insidious images.
