Deepfake Porn

 Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 24/2417

Version Date: 10/10/2024

1. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023)?
2. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023).
3. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many people were charged under the Online Safety Act with the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
4. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many charges were made by your police force under the Online Safety Act of the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
5. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 18?
6. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 10?

 For clarity, for the questions above, I am asking for charges under the following law, Section 66B, Sexual Offences Act:

(1)       A person (A) commits an offence if –

(a)       A intentionally shares a photograph or film which shows, or appears to show, another person (B) in an intimate state,

(b)       B does not consent to the sharing of the photograph or film, and

(c)       A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

 Full legislation is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/66B

7. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force) – e.g. communication offences or harassment legislation?
8. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
9. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many people were charged with the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
10. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many charges were made by your police force of the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please prioritise questions in number order. Questions 1-6 should be prioritised over questions 7-10.

 The Performance Analysis Department have provided the following information:

Searches were completed on Niche using the Home Office codes 088/15 and 175/08 within the time periods requested.

Filters were added to retrieve results recorded under the following descriptions and containing the word ‘deepfake’ within the occurrence entry log:

• Send/threaten to share photograph or film of a person in an intimate state - s188 Online Safety Act 2023 / s66B SOA 2003;
• Send/threaten to share photograph or film of a person in an intimate state intending to cause alarm, distress, humiliation or for the purposes of sexual gratification - SOA 2003 s66B;
• Share/threaten to share photograph or film of person in an intimate state without consent - SOA 2003 s66B (1) & (9)

These searches have resulted a nil return.

Please note that these offences rely on digital forensic examinations to take place for digital devices used in the offences. Digital forensic examinations often take an extended period, so it is likely that any arrested persons have not been charged yet.