ARIn a surprising move, the Government has decided to U-turn on their proposed legislative amendment surrounding synthetic sexual content (often known as “deepfakes”) to be consent based as opposed to motivation based.
The original amendment which was announced only earlier this month would have required victims to prove that perpetrators intended to cause them harm, distress or humiliation, or to gain sexual gratification through the creation of synthetic sexual content.
Motivation Based to Consent Based
Since the original announcement, our Revenge Porn Helpline, alongside campaigners, survivors and academics, have highlighted the problematic approach of a motivation-based law, stressing that it would not adequately protect victims due to the numerous loopholes that would be created because effectively proving motivation is challenging. The amendment would have created inconsistencies with existing legislation on the sharing of intimate images without consent and would have created unnecessary confusion.
Baroness Owen’s has done extensive work in this area, consulting with multiple stakeholders in the sector. Her Private Members Bill captured the key issues and was framed to slot directly into existing legislation. Her amendment proposing a consent-based offence has already been tabled and has cross party support in the House of Lords. The offence would be based solely on whether the victim gave their consent or not, without the motivations or intentions of the perpetrator being relevant. It is straightforward and addresses the issue with the focus on the victim as opposed to the perpetrator.
Despite initially rejecting Baroness Owen’s approach due to concerns around freedom of expression, the Government has now made a surprise U-turn and is set to support a consent-based amendment.
Still a Long Way to Go
Sophie Mortimer (Manager of the Revenge Porn Helpline) said: ‘’We welcome the Government’s change of approach to ensure that protections against synthetic sexual content are consent based and not based around intent. Although the initial announcement is positive, we continue to remain cautious until the draft is published – the devil is always in the detail, and we must first clarify how these protections are specifically worded and framed. We would very much welcome the government working with Baroness Owen who has consulted extensively with survivors, campaigners and experts to craft the most appropriate framework on this issue to ensure protections are robust and clear.
Although this is a positive step, we are still a long way from a comprehensive, protective landscape. NCII content remains legally available to view online, perpetrators still hold the right to possess NCII imagery on their devices even after a conviction – if we are hoping to strengthen our approaches towards intimate image abuse, why are we not addressing it across a much wider scope? The Revenge Porn Helpline continues to be busy and until these gaps are addressed, intimate image abuse will not be going away any time soon.’’
