Bills Strengthening Protections Against AI-Created Intimate Deepfakes Now Law
The two pieces of legislation include a first-of-its-kind law assigning civil liability to online platforms
AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed a pair of bills passed by the Texas Legislature regulating AI-generated intimate deepfakes, building on protections approved and signed into law two years ago.
The bills include the first law in the country that holds platforms civilly liable for failing to protect minors from this type of media.
Intimate deepfakes, sometimes referred to as “deepfake porn,” are images or videos depicting a person nude or engaged in a sexual act that are fabricated with the help of artificial intelligence. Many such photos or videos are created without the consent of the depicted individual. Nearly all of these victims are women, and many of them are children.
“The creation and dissemination of non-consensual intimate deepfakes can inflict damage that can last a lifetime,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen. “Across the country, state legislatures are recognizing this harm and are taking proactive steps to rein in their distribution, while holding those who produce them accountable. The Texas Legislature rightfully took initial steps to protect the public from these images and videos two years ago and has gone further to provide more protection to victims of these despicable crimes.”
The bills signed that are now law are:
- HB 581 by state Rep. Mary González assigns civil liability to the operator of the website or application used to create deepfakes of minors, marking the first law in the United States to hold the platform operator liable.
- SB 441 by state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa builds on existing law criminalizing the creation of intimate deepfakes without the victim’s consent. SB 441 criminalizes threatening to create an intimate deepfake to coerce, extort, harass, or intimidate another person. Following the 2023 legislative session, Gov. Abbott signed HB 2700, which criminalized intimate deepfake images depicting minors.
Public Citizen has created a model law to assist lawmakers in taking action on this issue and is tracking the progress of bills with its intimate deepfakes legislation tracker.