We're also #Swifties

Dear John:

Taylor Swift’s deepfake nightmare should serve as a wake-up call.

The production of deepfake image-based sexual abuse is proliferating at an exponential rate globally. Current legislation in most countries does not provide adequate protection to victims of deepfakes, and justice remains elusive to anyone who falls victim to this new form of tech-facilitated sexual abuse – even high-profile celebrities with the clout and financial means to fight this fight.

What are deepfakes?

“Deepfakes are synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another. Creating deepfakes involves collecting real, everyday images of someone and manipulating them so as to create a false depiction of them doing or saying something which they have not done.”

From our recent joint report with the Alliance For Universal Digital Rights titled ‘Deepfake Image-Based Sexual Abuse, Tech-Facilitated Sexual Exploitation and the Law.’

The victims of non-consensual deepfakes are mostly women and girls, signaling that deepfakes mirror an offline problem – one of sexual exploitation and violence. The impacts of this technology can be traumatic, life-changing, and even life-threatening.

Technology is making it increasingly difficult for viewers to distinguish between reality and deception, and legal measures to provide survivors access to justice, punish perpetrators, and remove abusive content online are often woefully inadequate.

The internet doesn’t respect borders, so we need comprehensive international laws – in addition to national laws – to protect women and girls everywhere. Our Digital Law & Rights Advisor, Amanda Manyame, says, “deepfake sexual violations are global and multi-jurisdictional and demand a harmonized and coordinated response from the international community.” Equality Now is needed now more than ever to help advocate for legal change on a global scale.

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In the US, there are no federal laws around deepfakes, and the majority of states don’t have laws addressing this issue. According to our partners #MyImageMyChoice, 1 in 12 U.S. adults and 1 in 3 people in the U.K. have come forward as victims of image-based abuse. However, the true U.S. number is likely much higher.

We need more expansive and progressive laws and global collaboration now, before this crisis spirals further out of control. You do not need to be a celebrity to be negatively impacted by deepfake technology, and on the flipside, as we’ve seen recently in the media, status and wealth won’t necessarily protect you. Without adequate laws in place, it will be difficult for victims of any background to find the justice they deserve. That’s why Equality Now and our partners in the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights (AUDRi) are working worldwide to advocate for better laws and global agreements to protect women and girls in the digital realm.

Please consider a contribution today to support Equality Now’s work as we strive to ensure that the right laws are in place to prevent digital sexual exploitation and enact systemic legal reform to help victims access to justice.

In Solidarity,
Amy Hutchinson
Global Director of Development

#ProtectTaylorSwift (and all people)

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