Washington AG joins push to stop spread of deepfake pornography online

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and dozens of his colleagues across the country are calling on tech companies and payment platforms to take action to block computer-generated pornography.

Two letters the bipartisan group of attorneys general sent last month note 98% of fake videos posted online specifically feature so-called deepfake pornography. Almost all target women and girls. Altogether, these videos have received hundreds of millions of views.

This year, the Washington Legislature overwhelmingly approved making the willful distribution of a forged digital likeness, or deepfake, a gross misdemeanor crime. Experts say the law is the first in the nation to impose criminal liability for any malicious deepfake, not just those that are sexual or political. It went into effect late last month.

In recent years, lawmakers have also created a civil cause of action for political candidates depicted in manipulated content that isn’t disclosed as fabricated, and prohibited digitally-altered sexual photographs or videos of children and sharing any fake intimate images.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/washington-ag-joins-push-to-stop-spread-of-deepfake-pornography-online/