Germany toughens law: Penalties for creating and distributing sexual deepfakes and intimate photos without consent

BERLIN, Oct 7 /ATSH-DPA/ – Germany plans to make it a criminal offence to possess, produce and distribute videos depicting rape, as part of a new draft law against violence online and in digital environments.

The draft law, which is expected to be considered today by the German government, also provides for new criminal offences for misuse of identity and the unauthorised creation or distribution of sexual “deepfakes”.

Sexual deepfakes are photos or videos manipulated with technology which, at first glance, appear to show a real person naked or performing sexual acts, even though in reality that person was not in that situation.

Under current German law, possessing and producing videos depicting rape are not generally prohibited when made for private use, while their distribution is not automatically considered a criminal offence.

Whether or not a criminal offence has been committed depends on what is shown in the video, as well as where it was recorded and to whom it is sent or given.

The new draft law would also make it a criminal offence to photograph or distribute, without permission, another person’s intimate parts.

These rules against secretly filming or photographing people’s bodies would apply regardless of whether the photographs were taken in public places, such as saunas or nudist beaches, or in private settings.

The draft law, proposed by Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, would also expressly consider it a criminal offence to use a fake profile in the name of a real person, when that profile is used to communicate in a way that harms that person’s reputation or name. /