Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by the authority of the Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP)GENERAL OUTLINE
1. This Bill amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 to strengthen offences targeting the creation and non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit material online, including material that has been created or altered using technology such as deepfakes.
2. Deepfakes refer to images, videos or sound files, generated using AI, of a real person that has been edited to create an extremely realistic but false depiction of them doing or saying something that they did not actually do or say.
3. As technology advances AI and machine learning even further, the sophistication of deepfake techniques increases, making it almost impossible to detect deepfake material. The use of technology, such as AI, to create fake sexual material poses significant risks to the Australian community, and the non-consensual sharing of this material can have long-lasting harmful impacts on victims.
4. Schedule 1 of the Bill amends Part 10.6 of the Criminal Code to:
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- replace the existing aggravated offence for using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence involving private sexual material (section 474.17A), with an offence targeting the non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit material online without consent,
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- provide that the new offence applies to both real (non-altered) material and material that has been created or altered using technology, such as deepfake AI, and
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- introduces two aggravated offences in Part 10.6 of the Criminal Code (section 474.17AA), which apply where the person who transmits the material has had certain civil penalties orders made against them, or the person has created or altered the material using technology.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
5. The amendments in this Bill have no financial impact.