The Protection of Children Act (1978) prohibits the creation and distribution of such an image, and Section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act (1988) also makes it an offence for a person to have a pseudo-image portraying an indecent image of a child in their possession. In the UK, international obligations to protect children from sexual exploitation are bolstered by laws prohibiting the production of sexual pseudo-imagery, such as a photoshopped images of a young person appearing naked. But it is doubtful that this law makes the bot itself unlawful. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 196 countries, requires parties to the convention to take steps to protect children from being sexually exploited and being used in the production of pornographic material.Īs long as Telegram removes reported indecent images of children, Telegram is not culpable under current international legal frameworks if a user uses the deepfake bot to produce an indecent image of a child. Images of real children which are altered to appear nude or sexually explicit are internationally unlawful. In this case – if the person in the image is underage – the legal position is clear. The Telegram bot has been linked to reports of images which appear to be of underage girls. So: is the use of deepfake bots to produce pseudo naked images legal? Underage pictures The ease with which such “image manipulation” may be carried out without the knowledge of its victims is alarming. The number of user-requested images which have been publicly shared is likely to be much higher. They found that 70% of Telegram users use its deepfake bot to target women and that, as of the end of July 2020, at least 104,852 fake nude images had been shared in a “image collections” channel available on the app. While Telegram operates predominantly as a messaging app, it facilitates autonomous programmes (referred to as “bots”), one of which is able to digitally synthesise these deepfake naked images.ĭeepfake detection company Sensity recently published research into Telegram. Telegram has more than 400 million active monthly users.
This might sound like a scene from a Black Mirror episode but is in fact a real possibility thanks to tools available on the social media app Telegram, which allows users to upload innocent images of a (clothed) person, and request that the person in the image is “ digitally undressed” for a fee. There are some inconsistencies – you do not recognise the body in the image – but it is convincing nonetheless. You recognise your face and the background and it looks like your photo, but in this image, you are completely naked. Now imagine later coming across this image while scrolling through your newsfeed. You are dressed in a swimsuit and you are smiling at the camera.
Imagine that you upload a photograph of yourself on holiday to your favourite social media platform.
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