Protection of personal rights
Bavaria is demanding tough penalties for malicious deepfakes
May 14, 2024, 3:33 p.m
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Artificial intelligence makes it possible for deceptively real images to circulate on the Internet. This puts statements in politicians’ mouths and deceives the public. Women and girls in particular also fall victim to pornographic content. Bavaria wants the penalties for production to be significantly increased.
According to Bavaria’s wishes, the creation and distribution of manipulated images, videos or sound recordings using artificial intelligence – so-called deepfakes – should result in significant fines and imprisonment. The state government cabinet in Munich decided on a Federal Council initiative that aims to better protect personal rights against deepfakes.
“So far there are numerous criminal law regulations. However, these only cover partial aspects and do not do justice to the particular injustice of the crimes,” said the State Chancellery. Bavaria is therefore proposing its own regulation against abusive deepfakes in the Federal Council, which should be anchored in a new Section 201b of the Criminal Code.
Girls and women in particular fall victim to deepfakes
The new paragraph provides for prison sentences of up to two years or fines. “For serious cases, such as the distribution of pornographic deepfakes, a stricter sentence with a maximum penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment is planned,” it continued. Deepfakes that are distributed “in pursuit of overriding legitimate interests” on behalf of art, research or reporting are expressly excluded from this.
According to the information, more and more people – especially women and girls – are becoming victims of deepfakes, i.e. images, videos or sound recordings that appear deceptively real. These are used, for example, for bullying, in revenge porn or to manipulate public opinion. According to estimates, more than 90 percent of abusive deepfakes on the Internet concern the areas of pornography and nudity – the victims are mostly women.
Danger to democracy
With artificial intelligence, deepfakes are becoming increasingly easier to create. These also developed into a threat to democracy, as media reports about manipulated statements from politicians or calls during election campaigns demonstrated. The new paragraph also covers these cases.
Bavaria had already called for a closer look at the dangers of deepfakes as part of the Justice Ministers’ Conferences in 2021 and 2023. However, the federal government has not yet taken any action. Therefore, the existing protection gap should now be closed via the Federal Council.