The New Voyeurism: Criminalising the Creation of «Deepfake Porn»

Lawmakers around the world are turning their attention to deepfake sexual abuse to reduce its prevalence and provide redress to victims. Thus far, both civil and criminal law reforms have tended to focus on the distribution of this material.

Far less attention has been given to targeting the root cause, namely the creation of these «sexual digital forgeries». In their upcoming article, Clare M. S. McGlynn and Rüya Tuna Toparlak provide the first comprehensive examination of the criminalisation of the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes, advancing the idea that this phenomenon should be understood as the «new voyeurism». They explore the harmful nature of this behaviour including the «invisible threat» of deepfake sexual abuse now pervading the lives of all women and girls and justify the deployment of criminal sanctions. This is followed by an analysis of the laws in jurisdictions which currently criminalise creating sexually explicit deepfakes.

In this presentation, Rüya Tuna Toparlak (PhD candidate at University of Luzern) will talk about the current epidemic of sexual digital forgeries, their legal standing and legal policy decisions around the world to combat the abuse as well as the applicable laws in Switzerland. The lecture will be followed by lunch and discussion.

When / Wann: May 30, 2025, 12:00 - 13:30

Where / Wo: DSI Event Room, SOC-E-010, Digital Society Initiative, Rämistrasse 69, 8001 Zurich

Language / Sprache:  English

Registration / Anmeldung: Link

Organisation: DSI Community AI & Law

1. Introduction
2. Presentation of the Lecture
3. Q & A Session and Discussion
4. Conclusion
5. Lunch

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