Ministers to make the creation of ‘deepfake’ images a new offence

The Scottish Government plans to change the law to make it an offence to use technology to create “deepfake” intimate images.

The move is one a series of measures outlined by the government in a consultation on improving the protection of women and girls.

The Scottish Government paper sets out how “the criminal law needs to adapt to the new ways in which forms of misogynistic abuse target women and girls”.

It adds: “Where technology advances, it should not be acceptable to use new tools to manipulate images to give an appearance of a person in an intimate state.”

It is already an offence to disclose, or threaten to disclose, so-called “deepfake” images – but the Government now plans to make it an offence to use technology to create such images.

The consultation also considers if digital tools designed solely for creating images such as fake nudes should also be criminalised.

In addition to this, ministers are looking at making pregnancy an aggravating factor for domestic abuse cases, so that when a mother-to-be is attacked the courts would have to treat the case more seriously.

The consultation also asks if there would be benefits from developing a standalone offence of spiking – rather than dealing with such cases under the common law offence of drugging as at present.

Consideration is also being given to whether non-harassment orders could be imposed on people as an an alternative to prosecuting some cases in court.

And while the consultation makes clear the Scottish Government does not support creating a new stand alone offence of non-fatal strangulation, it does ask if there should be better recording of such offences.

Launching the consultation, Justice Secretary Angela Constance was clear: “Violence against women and girls is abhorrent and we must ensure we are doing all we can to tackle it, whether it is established or emerging forms of harm.”

She added: “We have made significant progress already – including the introduction of the domestic abuse offence, improved training for those supporting victims and new powers to enforce protective orders in Scotland imposed elsewhere in the UK.”

The Justice Secretary said she was “particularly keen to hear from those with direct experience of harm” in the consultation.

She told those who had been the victims of such cases that their responses would “help to inform future action that is needed to achieve the outcome we all seek: stronger protections and actions which lead to lower levels of violence against women and girls and a safer Scotland.”