The Unlawful Invasion of Privacy Act, which was introduced on January 1, 2018, targets revenge porn and other violations online. So far, roughly 12,000 police reports have been made under the law, but only 145 of them have led to a verdict, according to figures from the Crime Prevention Council, Brå.
SVT cannot find any evidence that anyone has been convicted of illegal privacy violations due to the spread of AI-manipulated material during the seven years that the law has existed.
Neither Brå, the Police Authority nor the Prosecutor’s Office can say that it has happened. Still, AI porn, so-called deepfakes, featuring female celebrities is available online, clips seen by tens of thousands.
In recent years, AI development has gone at breakneck speed, and Sweden’s women’s organizations have recently criticized the Swedish legislation for being insufficient. They think it needs to be clarified whether the law on unlawful invasion of privacy also covers fake material, i.e. AI porn – that, for example, AI is used to “undress” clothed images of women, or copy women’s faces into porn videos.
– It is incredibly offensive to the victim and we need to follow how well the legislation covers this problem, says Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg to SVT.
At the same time, Ängla Pändel, lawyer and chairman of the Institute for Law and the Internet, believes that current legislation should be sufficient as it appears in the preparatory work of the law that it can also apply to manipulated material.
Hear more from her in the clip above.
Difficult to prosecute
SVT has found four police reports where AI-generated nude images were shared, and which were labeled as illegal privacy violations, but none of the cases have led to prosecution.
According to Lena Larsson, criminal inspector at the police’s National Operative Department, Noa, there are several reasons why it is difficult to prosecute people for AI porn. One is that it may fall under other headings such as defamation, sexual harassment or child pornography offences. It is also difficult to prove who spreads the material.
– The people who post the material often have a good idea. They know that those sites do not cooperate with the police, she says.
SVT has sought Swedish top politicians, sports stars and influencers who have been exposed or were about to be exposed to AI porn, but no one has wanted to participate.