A Channel 4 News star has recalled her horror after viewing deepfake footage of herself.
Cathy Newman explained that she found the pornographic footage to be "incredibly invasive". Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today, she stated that she watched the footage, created with AI which saw her face superimposed onto another person in a pornographic film.
The news anchor had been researching deepfake pornography for an upcoming Channel 4 News investigation. She said: "I didn’t think I’d be too affected by it but actually when I watched it, the only way to describe it is that it was violating. It was kind of me and not me, and yet it was incredibly invasive.
"It was a sort of disgusting fantasy that someone had had and decided to create of me in all sorts of different sexual positions. It was really disturbing and violating is really the best way to describe it." The 49-year-old went on to add that she expected to "see the seams of AI" in the movie before continuing: "If you didn’t know, you would stumble across this video online and think it was me."
Cathy branded the content disturbing (Channel 4)The broadcaster says she was trying to identify the person who created the deepfake footage, explaining: "I think one of the problems with this new law that’s being proposed is that this is a worldwide problem. So, we can legislate in this jurisdiction, it might have no impact on whoever created my video or the millions of other videos that are out there, and I think speed is also of the essence here because we discovered in our research that more deepfake porn videos were created in 2023 than all other years combined, so this is increasing exponentially."
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Cathy is one of 255 British celebrities who have become a victim of deepfake pornography. Meanwhile, almost 4000 famous people including actors, TV stars, YouTubers and musicians have been superimposed into pornographic content without their knowledge or consent.
Under new legislation which was introduced on January 31, anybody creating deepfake images without the consent of the individual will face a criminal record and an unlimited fine. The Ministry of Justice also explained that the individual could face a prison sentence if the image is shared widely. The Minister for Victims and Safeguarding, Laura Farris said that creating such images was "unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared."
She said: "It is another example of ways in which certain people seek to degrade and dehumanise others – especially women. And it has the capacity to cause catastrophic consequences if the material is shared more widely. This government will not tolerate it. This new offence sends a crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime."
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