The government of Denmark wants to introduce a ban on sharing deepfake images online. It intends to change the country’s copyright laws so that everyone controls the rights to their own body, face and voice.
What has the government said?
The Danish government announced last week that it is going to introduce new legislation to tackle deepfakes. It has defined a deepfake as a very realistic digital representation of a person. This definition also includes someone’s voice as well as their appearance. Denmark’s government says this could be the first law to protect against deepfakes in Europe.
With the proposed new law, Denmark wants to give its citizens the legal rights to their appearance and their voice. This means that you could demand that online platforms remove any deepfake content that features you. The law will also apply to “realistic, digitally generated imitations” of an artist’s performance. However, the Danish government says that “parodies and satire” will still be allowed.
Penalties
Under the new law, anyone sharing deepfakes won’t face a fine or prison sentence. It will only give people the right to have deepfakes featuring their image or voice taken down. They may also be able to claim compensation. However, the Danish government has issued a warning to online platforms. Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Denmark’s culture minister, said, “Of course this is new ground we are breaking, and if the platforms are not complying with that, we are willing to take additional steps.”
In addition, he warned that companies could face “severe fines” if they didn’t respect the new law.
Cross-party support
Denmark’s proposed new copyright law has support across the country’s different political parties. The changes to the legislation have been backed by around 90 per cent of Danish members of parliament (MPs).
Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Denmark’s culture minister, said, “In the bill we agree and are sending an unequivocal message that everybody has the right to their own body, their own voice and their own facial features, which is apparently not how the current law is protecting people against generative AI. Human beings can be run through the digital copy machine and be misused for all sorts of purposes and I’m not willing to accept that.”
What next?
The Danish government is going to debate the new legislation in the summer. It then hopes to bring in the new law by the end of 2025 or early next year. As part of the European Union, Denmark will also need to ensure that its law is compatible with wider European law.
What we think
As generative AI gets better and better, so concerns over deepfakes have increased. It’s becoming much harder to tell what’s real and what’s AI anymore. This might not seem a serious issue where videos are intended to be humorous. However, some content can be insulting or malicious. Last year, the principal of a school outside Baltimore received death threats after a fake audio clip was shared. For Denmark’s new law to work, the government will need the buy-in of the companies that run online platforms. With that support, the legislation could help tackle the threat of deepfakes. Other governments around the world will also be watching to see if this new approach is a success.
