Government U-turn on deepfakes offence

The government has reportedly made a U-turn this weekend (26th January 2025) on the details of a proposed new offence to criminalise non-consensual sexually explicitly deepfakes.

Announced just last week, the original proposal would have required victims to prove that perpetrators intended to cause them harm, distress or humiliation, or to gain sexual gratification – as well as there being a lack of consent.

Along with survivor campaign group #NotYourPorn, survivor-campaigner Jodie*, leading expert Professor Clare McGlynn and GLAMOUR UK, the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) has called for the new offence to be based solely on consent. Nearly 70k people support our campaign for the government to take firm action on deepfake abuse, including through criminal law.

Rebecca Hitchen, Head of Policy & Campaigns at the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“This is a really welcome move from the government. The only relevant factor in sexual offending is consent and taking a consent-based approach will ensure there are no legal loopholes for perpetrators and remove some of the barriers to justice survivors face.

We have seen with other offences that requiring evidence of the perpetrator’s intent to harm, as well as a lack of consent, places a huge burden of proof on survivors, the police and justice system and lets perpetrators off the hook.

As Baroness Owen’s amendment is debated in the House of Lords tomorrow, we call on the government to accept her proposals, developed with experts, to ensure this law is a powerful tool for holding perpetrators to account. This means it must also cover solicitation of this abuse and be listed as a priority offence in the Online Safety Act to ensure tech companies are held accountable for their profitable role in this abuse.”

In addition to strengthening criminal laws about creating, taking and sharing intimate images without consent (including sexually explicit deepfakes), our campaign group is calling for the government to take holistic action to prevent abuse in the first place:

• Improve civil laws for survivors to take action against perpetrators and tech companies (including orders to take down abusive content)
• Prevent image-based abuse through comprehensive relationships, sex and health education that reflects the realities of young people’s lives
• Fund the specialist services that provide vital, life-saving support to victims and survivors of image-based abuse
• Create an online abuse commission to champion victims’ rights and hold tech companies accountable for image-based abuse

ENDS

Notes to editor

• Spokespeople are available for comment and interview
• More detail about what we are calling for to tackle deepfake abuse and other forms of image-based abuse here
• Sign our petition here

Media contact

Sinead Geoghegan, Head of Communications, media@evaw.org.uk