‘I felt violated’: Deepfake pornography victim speaks out and launches petition after perpetrator walks away ‘scot-free’

A mother who felt “dirty, ashamed and violated” after discovering images of her face had been digitally edited onto sexually explicit pictures of other women, and that men had pleasured themselves over them, launched a petition to change the law after the perpetrator of the deepfake pornography walked away “scot-free”.

Sophie Parrish, 31, a florist who lives in Ainsdale, Merseyside, discovered she had been the victim of deepfake pornography – where an image is digitally manipulated – in October 2022.

She made the “horrendous” discovery after she was sent Facebook messages from an unknown user, which included a video of a man masturbating over her and using a shoe to pleasure himself.

The ‘deepfakes’ and other images posted online, seen by PA Real Life, show Sophie’s face edited onto sexually explicit pictures of other women showing their genitals, pictures of men’s erect penises and them having ejaculated on top of images of Sophie’s face, and a picture of Sophie with fake semen edited onto her face.

The images, which made her physically sick when she first saw them, have had comments written next to them on websites where they have been posted, such as “get your c*** out Sophie, that’s a good girl”, along with requests for someone to “cum all over Sophie”.

Sophie reported the images to Merseyside Police and the force confirmed a man, who she does not wish to be named, was detained but no further action was taken.

The mother-of-two has tried to get the graphic images taken down, with the help of a detective, but since these pictures are “fantasy” and they are not technically showing real people, she said the websites claimed they do not have “any rights” to remove them – and this “infuriated (her) beyond control”.

Although one year has passed and she no longer feels “as ashamed as (she) did”, thanks to counselling, she told PA Real Life: “I’m not the same person that I was.

“I felt very, I still do, dirty – that’s one of the only ways I can describe it – and I’m very ashamed of the fact that the images are out there.

“I was unbelievably angry… and I just wanted to call (the perpetrator) out and say, ‘Why?'”

Sophie launched a petition to the Department of Justice following the police investigation, calling for it to be made illegal “to create and share explicit images without consent” – which has more than 1,140 signatures.

Although the Online Safety Act now makes it a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a manufactured or ‘deepfake’ intimate image or video of another person without his or her consent, it is not intended to criminalise the creation of such deepfake content, which Sophie feels is wrong.

Speaking of her experience, she said: “I felt violated, massively, and I didn’t have any dignity in this whole thing.

“My dignity and my privacy were completely compromised – and that’s where the petition came into it.

“He just walked away, basically scot-free, which was a really hard pill to swallow… because right now, he still has that control, he’s still in the driving seat.”

Sophie said the first “bombshell” occurred when she received a Facebook message from an unknown profile in October 2022.

Along with “some astonishing claims”, such as knowing where she lives, she said the Facebook user sent over graphic content, created by the perpetrator, involving Sophie.

This included videos of the perpetrator masturbating and using a shoe to pleasure himself, along with photos of “fluid” on the floor.

Sophie said she had a “panic attack” the next day – and to her horror, days later, she and her cousin found what appeared to be naked images of her online, but it was not her body.

It was at this point Sophie realised she had been the victim of deepfake pornography – and to make matters worse, she discovered some of the images dated back to 2014 when she was just 22.

“The colour just drained from my cousin’s cheeks, and I said, ‘What’s the matter?'” Sophie said.

“She said, ‘I don’t think you want to see this… it’s really dark, Sophie,’ and I said, ‘What do you mean it’s really dark?’

“She said, ‘There are images of you on this website where you’re naked, but I don’t think it’s you. It’s definitely your face… but it’s not your body’.”

Sophie told her cousin to stop with the “sick joke”, but the reality was that Sophie’s pictures had been edited and uploaded onto a website, which has not been named for her privacy but where the images are still available online.

After viewing the images, including “photos where men have ejaculated over their phone screens with (her) face underneath it”, Sophie was physically sick and thought she was going to “pass out”.

“It was sheer panic, sheer panic that this person had done something that I didn’t even know physically existed at that moment in time,” Sophie explained.

“Even now, I still find myself going, I still can’t believe it’s happened, I still can’t believe he’s done this, I still can’t believe those images are out there.

“It was basically a case of, what the hell do we do now? How do we get rid of these images? How much more is there that we don’t know?”

The Online Safety Act now makes it a criminal offence to share, or threaten to share, a manufactured or ‘deepfake’ intimate image or video of another person without his or her consent.

The Act, of which Ofcom is the regulator, is not intended to criminalise the creation of such deepfake content but will make sharing and threatening to share such content a criminal offence.

The Online Safety Act received Royal Assent on October 26 2023, meaning these laws were not in place when Sophie contacted the police.

While the detective involved in her case did “everything in his power” to help and support her, she feels “let down by the law” as the perpetrator walked away “scot-free”.

Merseyside Police has confirmed that, following investigation, a man was detained but no further action was taken.

He was arrested on January 30 2023 on suspicion of disclosing or threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.

Speaking about the result of the case, she said: “I just fell to the floor in the kitchen and sobbed.

“I literally couldn’t stop shaking, it was like my body had gone into some sort of shock.

“Even though I knew the chances of him being charged or it going to the CPS were slim, there was a really big part of me that thought that somebody must see how wrong this is.

“It shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

While Sophie knows she should not feel “guilty” for what happened and she had “no part to play in this”, she felt ashamed, dirty, violated, and “unbelievably angry”.

It has affected her relationship as well but she said her husband Mark, 35, a car mechanic, has been extremely supportive and they are now “stronger than ever”.

Launching her petition back in February 2023, before the Online Safety Bill received Royal Assent, Sophie felt she had “no voice” but now wants to speak publicly to help raise more awareness of deepfake pornography and hopefully prevent other women from having similar experiences.

She wants people to understand “how dangerous this can be and how degrading it can be to somebody’s character”.

She understands some people may have fetishes or promote sexual content online but she is pleading with others not to “bring innocent people into it”, especially when it is “non-consensual” – and with the rise in artificial intelligence (AI), she wants to urge women to be careful what they post online.

“I don’t believe this should be able to happen to women, and for people to get away with it, for them to then go and do it again,” Sophie said.

“What (the perpetrator) has done is horrendous… but my biggest piece of advice now is, speak out if it’s happened to you, don’t stay quiet.

“This could happen to anybody, and it shocks me that people don’t even know what deepfake is.

“Artificial intelligence is fantastic when it’s used for what it needs to be used for, but when it’s being abused and manipulated, it’s very dangerous when it’s in the wrong hands.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We are protecting women and girls by cracking down on abusers who share, or threaten to share, manipulated or manufactured intimate photos or videos without consent. This includes giving police and prosecutors the powers they need to bring cowards who share these photos and videos to justice.

“Through the Online Safety Act, we have made sharing intimate images of another person without consent a criminal offence for the first time – that includes deepfakes. The Act has also placed ground-breaking new duties on social media platforms to stop illegal content being shared on their sites, or they risk facing fines that could reach billions of pounds.”

To find out more about Sophie’s petition, visit: change.org/p/deepfake-porn-make-it-illegal-to-create-and-and-share-explicit-images-without-consent