All edicts of government are reproduced from their states’ official website, up-to-date as of their 2023 legislative sessions. Westlaw links are provided for researchers’ convenience. The information on this page is subject to change at any time and may be inaccurate after posting. Always check for updates on statutory text and new caselaw.
Nothing on this page may be construed as legal advice. The italicized portions before each statute are my understanding of the history of the statute.
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Federal
No federal criminal statutes relating specifically to deepfakes exist at this time.
State
As of August 2023, only five states have criminalized (or in Texas’ case, will criminalize) deepfake usage in a capacity outside of election interference. There is no consensus on how to categorize a deepfake in the law – some states identify it as an identity theft crime, while others consider it a sexual crime.
Georgia
See (c)(2) for penalty structure
Georgia typically classifies this as a form of revenge pornography, which is a sex crime.
(a) As used in this Code section, the term:
- (1) “Harassment” means engaging in conduct directed at a depicted person that is intended to cause substantial emotional harm to the depicted person.
- (2) “Nudity” means:
- (A) The showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks without any covering or with less than a full opaque covering;
- (B) The showing of the female breasts without any covering or with less than a full opaque covering; or
- (C) The depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
- (3) “Sexually explicit conduct” shall have the same meaning as set forth in Code Section 16-12-100.
(b) A person violates this Code section if he or she, knowing the content of a transmission or post, knowingly and without the consent of the depicted person:
- (1) Electronically transmits or posts, in one or more transmissions or posts, a photograph or video which depicts nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult, including a falsely created videographic or still image, when the transmission or post is harassment or causes financial loss to the depicted person, serves no legitimate purpose to the depicted person, and is transmitted or posted:
- (A) To a website, peer-to-peer file-sharing site, thumbnail gallery, movie gallery post, linked list, live webcam, web page, or message board that advertises or promotes its service as showing, previewing, or distributing sexually explicit conduct; or
- (B) Via any other electronic means that does not fall within subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; or
- (2) Causes the electronic transmission or posting, in one or more transmissions or posts, of a photograph or video which depicts nudity or sexually explicit conduct of an adult, including a falsely created videographic or still image, when the transmission or post is harassment or causes financial loss to the depicted person, serves no legitimate purpose to the depicted person, and is transmitted or posted:
- (A) To a website, peer-to-peer file-sharing site, thumbnail gallery, movie gallery post, linked list, live webcam, web page, or message board that advertises or promotes its service as showing, previewing, or distributing sexually explicit conduct; or
- (B) Via any other electronic means that does not fall within subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.
Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to impose liability on an interactive computer service, as such term is defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 230(f)(2), or an information service or telecommunications service, as such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. Section 153, for content provided by another person.
(c)
- (1) Any person who violates subparagraph (b)(1)(B) or (b)(2)(B) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature; provided, however, that upon a second or subsequent violation of this Code section, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, a fine of not more than $100,000.00, or both.
- (2) Any person who violates subparagraph (b)(1)(A) or (b)(2)(A) of this Code section shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, a fine of not more than $100,000.00, or both. Upon the second and all subsequent convictions for violations of subparagraph (b)(1)(A) or (b)(2)(A) of this Code section, such person shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than two nor more than five years, a fine of not more than $100,000.00, or both.
(d) A person shall be subject to prosecution in this state pursuant to Code Section 17-2-1 for any conduct made unlawful by this Code section which the person engages in while:
- (1) Either within or outside of this state if, by such conduct, the person commits a violation of this Code section which involves an individual who resides in this state; or
- (2) Within this state if, by such conduct, the person commits a violation of this Code section which involves an individual who resides within or outside this state.
(e) The provisions of subsection (b) of this Code section shall not apply to:
- (1) The activities of law enforcement and prosecution agencies in the investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses;
- (2) Legitimate medical, scientific, or educational activities;
- (3) Any person who transmits or posts a photograph or video depicting only himself or herself engaged in nudity or sexually explicit conduct;
- (4) The transmission or posting of a photograph or video that was originally made for commercial purposes;
- (5) Any person who transmits or posts a photograph or video depicting a person voluntarily engaged in nudity or sexually explicit conduct in a public setting; or
- (6) A transmission that is made pursuant to or in anticipation of a civil action.
(f) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that an information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet, for content provided by another person, does not know the content of an electronic transmission or post.
(g) Any violation of this Code section shall constitute a separate offense and shall not merge with any other crimes set forth in this title.
Hawaii
Class C Felony
Hawaii amended their “upskirt and revenge porn” statute to add (c), which is the deepfake portion (emphasis added). Hawaii classifies this as a Privacy Rights crime.
(1) A person commits the offense of violation of privacy in the first degree if, except in the execution of a public duty or as authorized by law:
- (a) The person intentionally or knowingly installs or uses, or both, in any private place, without consent of the person or persons entitled to privacy therein, any device for observing, recording, amplifying, or broadcasting another person in a stage of undress or sexual activity in that place;
- (b) The person knowingly discloses or threatens to disclose an image or video of another identifiable person either in the nude, as defined in section 712-1210, or engaging in sexual conduct, as defined in section 712-1210, without the consent of the depicted person, with intent to harm substantially the depicted person with respect to that person’s health, safety, business, calling, career, education, financial condition, reputation, or personal relationships or as an act of revenge or retribution; or
- (c) The person intentionally creates or discloses or threatens to disclose an image or video of a composite fictitious person depicted in the nude as defined in section 712-1210, or engaged in sexual conduct as defined in section 712-1210, that includes the recognizable physical characteristics of a known person so that the image or video appears to depict the known person and not a composite fictitious person, with intent to substantially harm the depicted person with respect to that person’s health, safety, business, calling, career, education, financial condition, reputation, or personal relationships, or as an act of revenge or retribution.
(2) Other than as prohibited in paragraph (1)(c), this section shall not apply to images or videos of the depicted person made:
- (a) When the person was voluntarily nude in public or voluntarily engaging in sexual conduct in public; or
- (b) Pursuant to a voluntary commercial transaction.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose liability on a provider of “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” as those terms are defined in section 803-41, for an image or video disclosed through the electronic communication service or remote computing service by another person.
(4) Violation of privacy in the first degree is a class C felony. In addition to any penalties the court may impose, the court may order the destruction of any recording made in violation of this section.
(5) Any recording or image made or disclosed in violation of this section and not destroyed pursuant to subsection (4) shall be sealed and remain confidential.
New York
New York modified their revenge porn statute to include deepfakes. The “deepfake” portion is bolded, though it doesn’t name deepfakes directly.
An amendment to this statute has been delivered to Governor Hochul’s desk and is awaiting signature. Check here for the progress on that amendment.
§ 245.15 Unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image.
- A person is guilty of unlawful dissemination or publication of an
intimate image when:
(a) with intent to cause harm to the emotional, financial or physical
welfare of another person, he or she intentionally disseminates or
publishes a still or video image of such other person, who is
identifiable from the still or video image itself or from information
displayed in connection with the still or video image, without such
other person’s consent, which depicts:
(i) an unclothed or exposed intimate part of such other person; or
(ii) such other person engaging in sexual conduct as defined in
subdivision ten of section 130.00 of this chapter with another person;
and
(b) such still or video image was taken under circumstances when the
person depicted had a reasonable expectation that the image would remain
private and the actor knew or reasonably should have known the person
depicted intended for the still or video image to remain private,
regardless of whether the actor was present when the still or video
image was taken.
- For purposes of this section “intimate part” means the naked
genitals, pubic area, anus or female nipple of the person.
2-a. For purposes of this section “disseminate” and “publish” shall
have the same meaning as defined in section 250.40 of this title.
- This section shall not apply to the following:
(a) the reporting of unlawful conduct;
(b) dissemination or publication of an intimate image made during
lawful and common practices of law enforcement, legal proceedings or
medical treatment;
(c) images involving voluntary exposure in a public or commercial
setting; or
(d) dissemination or publication of an intimate image made for a
legitimate public purpose.
- Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to enlarge,
the protections that 47 U.S.C § 230 confers on an interactive computer
service for content provided by another information content provider, as
such terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230.
Unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image is a class
A misdemeanor.
Texas
§21.165 (Activates September 1, 2023)
Class A misdemeanor
Texas classifies this as a Sexual Offense, and created a new statute for it.
Sec.21.165.UNLAWFUL PRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT VIDEOS.
(a) In this section:
- (1)”Deep fake video” means a video, created with the intent to deceive, that appears to depict a real person performing an action that did not occur in reality.
- (2)”Intimate parts” and “sexual conduct” have the meanings assigned by Section 21.16.
(b) A person commits an offense if, without the effective consent of the person appearing to be depicted, the person knowingly produces or distributes by electronic means a deep fake video that appears to depict the person with the person ’s intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) If conduct that constitutes an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another law, the actor may be prosecuted under this section or the other law.
Virginia
18.2-386.1 & 2 (Westlaw for .1) (Westlaw for .2)
Class 1 misdemeanor for deepfake porn of adults, Class 6 felony for deepfake porn of minors.
Virginia classifies this as Obscenity crimes. Virginia modified .2 (originally a revenge porn and upskirt statute) to include deepfakes.
.2 is the intended statute for deepfakes, but .1 can also be read as to encompass deepfakes because of the language “by any means whatsoever of any nonconsenting person” so long as the deepfake results in a pornographic material.
18.2-386.1
§ 18.2-386.1. Unlawful creation of image of another; penalty.
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally create any videographic or still image by any means whatsoever of any nonconsenting person if (i) that person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast in a restroom, dressing room, locker room, hotel room, motel room, tanning bed, tanning booth, bedroom or other location; or (ii) the videographic or still image is created by placing the lens or image-gathering component of the recording device in a position directly beneath or between a person’s legs for the purpose of capturing an image of the person’s intimate parts or undergarments covering those intimate parts when the intimate parts or undergarments would not otherwise be visible to the general public; and when the circumstances set forth in clause (i) or (ii) are otherwise such that the person being recorded would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
B. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any videographic or still image created by any means whatsoever by (i) law-enforcement officers pursuant to a criminal investigation which is otherwise lawful or (ii) correctional officials and local or regional jail officials for security purposes or for investigations of alleged misconduct involving a person committed to the Department of Corrections or to a local or regional jail, or to any sound recording of an oral conversation made as a result of any videotaping or filming pursuant to Chapter 6 (§ 19.2-61 et seq.) of Title 19.2.
C. A violation of subsection A shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
D. A violation of subsection A involving a nonconsenting person under the age of 18 shall be punishable as a Class 6 felony.
E. Where it is alleged in the warrant, information, or indictment on which the person is convicted and found by the court or jury trying the case that the person has previously been convicted within the 10-year period immediately preceding the offense charged of two or more of the offenses specified in this section, each such offense occurring on a different date, and when such offenses were not part of a common act, transaction, or scheme, and such person has been at liberty as defined in § 53.1-151 between each conviction, he shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.
18.2-386.2
§ 18.2-386.2. Unlawful dissemination or sale of images of another; penalty.
A. Any person who, with the intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate, maliciously disseminates or sells any videographic or still image created by any means whatsoever that depicts another person who is totally nude, or in a state of undress so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast, where such person knows or has reason to know that he is not licensed or authorized to disseminate or sell such videographic or still image is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. For purposes of this subsection, “another person” includes a person whose image was used in creating, adapting, or modifying a videographic or still image with the intent to depict an actual person and who is recognizable as an actual person by the person’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic.
B. If a person uses services of an Internet service provider, an electronic mail service provider, or any other information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server in committing acts prohibited under this section, such provider shall not be held responsible for violating this section for content provided by another person.
C. Venue for a prosecution under this section may lie in the jurisdiction where the unlawful act occurs or where any videographic or still image created by any means whatsoever is produced, reproduced, found, stored, received, or possessed in violation of this section.
D. The provisions of this section shall not preclude prosecution under any other statute.
Wyoming
Wyoming classifies this as criminal Identity Theft. Wyoming also allows victims to bring a civil claim against the criminal defendant through (c).
(a) A person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both, if he knowingly and without consent intentionally impersonates another person or that person’s personal or organizational digital identity through, or on, an internet website or by other electronic means, including, but not limited to spoofing, and:
- (i) Causes or attempts to cause harm;
- (ii) Harasses or attempts to harass another person while using false self-identifying information related to the person impersonated; or
- (iii) Uses or attempts to use false self-identifying information related to the person impersonated as an unauthorized deceptive means to facilitate contact with another person.
(b) For purposes of this section:
- (i) “Electronic means” includes opening an e-mail account or an account or profile on a site transmitted via the internet;
- (ii) “Internet” means as defined in W.S. 9-2-3219(a)(iii);
- (iii) “Spoofing” means falsifying the name or phone number appearing on caller identification systems;
- (iv) “Personal digital identity” means as defined in W.S. 8-1-102(a)(xviii);
- (v) “Organizational digital identity” means as defined in W.S. 8-1-102(a)(xix).
(c) In addition to any other civil remedy available, a person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of subsection (a) of this section may bring a civil action against the violator for compensatory damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief.
deepfakelawyer.org 