Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will implement stronger penalties for creating non-consensual deepfake content.

Government is committed to tackling the harm posed by the creation of non-consensual intimate images. We are bringing forward legislation to criminalise this behaviour in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The new legislation will ensure that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm.

The sharing of or threatening to share a deepfake intimate image without consent is already a criminal offence under the Online Safety Act and was designated as a priority offence in November 2024. Companies in scope of the Act’s illegal safety duties will be required to proactively tackle this type of content, preventing its proliferation online.