Creation/requesting the creation of purported intimate images
As part of its mission to halve violence against women and girls, the government committed in its manifesto to ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images. Section 138 fulfils this commitment by creating new offences of creating, or requesting the creation of, a purported (or ‘deepfake’) intimate image of an adult without their consent or reasonable belief in their consent.
	There has been a significant rise in the accessibility of technology used to create purported intimate images, and in their prevalence online without the consent of the person depicted.
	Under section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the law already captures situations where intimate images including deepfakes are shared without consent or reasonable belief in consent. However, there is currently no criminal offence of creating, or requesting the creation, of intimate image deepfakes of an adult, without consent or reasonable belief in consent. This behaviour can cause harm to the individuals depicted and forms part of a culture of wider harmful and misogynistic behaviour.
	The offences do not cover purported intimate images of children, as the criminal law already covers indecent images including deepfake images of children (i.e. those under the age of 18) in section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978.