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Deepfakes: a new frontier in civil law?

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Liam Tolen & Chris Fotheringham ask whether the law can protect individuals from deepfake harms
  • Advocates for a legal framework to protect individuals exposed to non-consensual deepfakery.
  • Looks at the possibility of intellectual property and defamation laws being applied in civil claims.
  • Notes legislative steps have been made, with more on the way, but there are still no specific civil remedies made available for those affected by deepfake technology.

One of ITV’s recent TV releases, Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, a comedy show that sends up celebrities, has attracted hostile feedback from some quarters. The reason is its use of deepfake technology to put celebrity faces on actors’ bodies.

Whether it’s Adele driving a London bus, or Idris Elba arguing with Kim Kardashian over the garden fence, the technology creates a fairly convincing fake and therefore an effective spoof.

The show is a clear use of deepfake technology being shown in an amusing way; however, the technology itself can be

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Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

How forcefully can a litigant criticise a public authority before robust advocacy crosses the line into unreasonable conduct? 
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