Better Internet for Kids

The Dutch Safer Internet Centre-Awareness organisation ECP hosted an expert session focused on deepfake technology and took a legal and collaborative approach to tackling its misuse. 

A lawyer working for the Dutch hotline and helpline explained that as much as 98 per cent of deepfakes are pornographic material, much of which is created without consent.

Until recently, there was no legal definition of deepfakes, but the new European AI Act has changed that. Thus, this law firm has sent an enforcement request to the Personal data authority for a website that contains a lot of deepfake pornographic material of Dutch celebrities and also makes it easy to make one's own deepfake porn. This website attracts a large number of visitors, with more than 200,000 in the Netherlands alone. The victims themselves often do not know they are portrayed on these websites, which calls for concentrated action and underlines the importance of enforcement.  

A presenter of ATKM (Authority for the prevention of online terrorist content and child pornography) shared how they fulfil their role as an authority by working closely with the sector. He stressed that for the ATKM, it does not matter whether content is generated or not because they look at the content itself and whether it is assessed as terrorist or child pornography.

Conclusions

Legal and enforcement measures: The AI Act has introduced a legal definition of deepfakes. It is now up to the authorities and industry to jointly tackle the misuse of deepfake technology.

Misuse of deepfake technology: A large proportion of deepfakes (98 per cent) are pornographic material, often created without permission. This highlights the need for legal action and cooperation to tackle abuse.

Important role ATKM: The ATKM has a crucial role within the system to get online illegal (deepfake) content off the internet as quickly as possible. However, content that does not fall under terrorist or child pornography remains a major challenge.

Find more information about the work of the Dutch Safer Internet Centre, including their awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services – or find similar information for other Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.