Deepfake abuse is the “new frontier” of violence against women and creating such content should be outlawed, according to a former adviser to Boris Johnson.
Baroness Owen, of Alderley Edge, warned that current legislation only prohibits the non-consensual sharing of deepfake material and does not tackle the non-consensual creation of content.
His colleagues have heard of a rise in so-called nudification apps that allow users to create fake nude images or videos of other people through generative artificial intelligence, commonly known as deepfakes.
Lady Owen said the ability to create such content within seconds on apps “poses a very real threat to all women”.
Responding on behalf of the government, equalities minister Baroness Barran said she accepted the points raised and wanted to hold discussions with Lady Owen and justice ministers to “explore this matter further”.
Conservative Lady Owen, who became the youngest life partner in the House of Lords at 30 last summer, told an International Women’s Day debate in the House of Lords: “Women are disproportionately affected by the creation of deepfake material.
“Research published by Home Security Heroes in 2023 found that 98% of all deepfake videos are pornographic, and 99% of them are of women.”
Lady Owen said it was currently legal to use the apps and create deepfake porn for private use, adding: “The largest site creating deepfakes receives an average of 13.4 million visits per month.
“The rapid proliferation of these nudification practices, 80 percent of which have been initiated in the last 12 months alone, has created an environment where anyone can easily cause harm and this is not recognized as misogyny.”
Lady Owen continued: “The creation of this material without a person’s consent causes serious harm, regardless of whether the person was aware of its creation, and has a much wider societal impact in normalizing misogyny and hatred online.
“We are now on the cusp of a new age of technology and it is vital that we act now to ensure that we do not risk creating a technological gender divide as we step into this brave new world that could offer so many exciting opportunities. It will further limit women’s economic participation in society.
“Being able to use apps and platforms to create these images and videos in seconds poses a very real threat to all women.
“A woman can no longer choose who owns her intimate image. They can be created by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
Lady Owen said it could have a “silencing effect”, including women withdrawing from social media and normal life.
She added: “Many women are afraid of this happening to them. “Current law prioritizes the creator’s freedom of speech and expression over that of the woman.”
Lady Owen also said: “While we still learn about artificial intelligence, in a world where we can no longer trust the images put before us, it is crucial that we educate society to distinguish between what is real and what is not.
“Time is very important. We must not miss the chance to take action by legislating against the creation of non-consensual deepfake content.
“We must prevent the normalization of misogyny. Deepfake abuse is the new frontier of violence against women and we must all take a stand on this issue.”#
Elsewhere in the debate, independent Crossbench colleague Baroness Boycott said a Mothers’ Manifesto hunger strike would be held near Parliament from Mother’s Day on Sunday.
The former newspaper editor said: “This is on behalf of a lot of mothers’ groups, because guess who’s skipping meals in this cost-of-living crisis? Not men, I’m sorry, but not.
“One in four mothers in this country currently skips meals. But 50 years ago, no one skipped meals. I’m not saying it was all fun and beds of roses, but we definitely didn’t skip a meal.
“If someone had said to me, ‘In 50 years you’ll be standing up in Westminster talking about food poverty’ I’d have said they were crazy.”
Her Crossbench colleague, Baroness Casey of Blackstock, used her maiden speech to follow in the footsteps of Labor MP Jess Phillips by reading the names of more than 100 women murdered in the last 12 months in the UK, where the main suspect was a man.
Lady Casey, the government’s former insomnia adviser, said the list was a reminder of the “real horror of our collective failure” to tackle the problem.
He added: “Yet there are thousands, even millions, of decent men. As Women’s Aid argued just today, we women need decent men in this House, and also across the country, who can stand up to this mandate, otherwise we will never, ever deal with this problem.
“We women cannot continue to pick up the pieces and, at worst, suffer harassment and violence, mostly from men.”
Lady Casey said “change is absolutely possible”, adding: “The country I love seems almost to be on its knees. “We are so tense, so divided and so much of the discourse is so fragmented.
“You can blame the pandemic, you can blame Russia, you can blame politics, or we can blame each other, but it’s very difficult for a lot of people.
“Still, I have such hope. “I have been working in public service for almost 40 years and this has instilled that hope in me.”