Pending bill would impose jail time for posting ‘deepfake’ pornographic images of individuals

By The Star Staff

As part of his agenda for the next Legislative Assembly that begins in January 2025, Rep. José Aponte Hernández announced Thursday that he will file a bill that will impose fines and jail time on those who use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to create adulterated images of individuals with sexual content, better known as pornographic “deepfake.”

“This week, it was reported in national media that over 30 congressmen, 25 of them women, have been victims of pornographic deepfakes during the past six months. This means that criminal elements have adulterated their photographs and/or videos using artificial intelligence algorithms to create explicitly pornographic content on platforms on the internet, including social networks,” the veteran New Progressive Party lawmaker said. “This should raise a flag in Puerto Rico, which is why one of the bills that we will be submitting in the new Legislature is focused on combating this nefarious practice that is causing so much damage.”

A report by the American Sunlight Project found that more than 35,000 deepfake mentions of congressmen, many of which contain explicit sexual material, have been found on websites and social media platforms over the past six months.

Deepfake is the manipulation of images, video and even audio of people in order to convey false messages and content, including explicit sexual content, among others.

“Our team is currently developing the parameters of this bill, which will include, among other articles, a provision ordering platforms to remove pornographic deepfake content once the victim notifies them,” Aponte said. “Likewise, we are evaluating a range of fines and even prison sentences for those individuals who commit this deplorable act. In addition, we are studying mechanisms that will facilitate, in an agile and safe manner, civil lawsuits for damages suffered as a direct consequence of these photographic alterations.”

The at-large legislator emphasized that AI applications such as Mimic, FaceSwap and DaVinci, among many others, are regularly available for download on cell phones with Apple and Android operating systems, and that those apps are, on some occasions, used to make deepfakes.

Last year, pop music superstar Taylor Swift was the target of deepfake attacks as the social network X (formerly Twitter) was flooded with AI-created photos of the singer in pornographic positions and acts. There was so much search traffic -- more than 45 million users saw the photos -- that X disabled the search engines for the singer.