My name is Sophie, I'm a mum and a wife and until recently I'd never heard of Deepfake porn. 

Back in October 2022 I discovered that since 2014 I had been subjected to this vile world of pornography. My images had been taken from my private social media platforms by someone very close to me and uploaded without my consent to various forums and websites using my first name and inviting other users to photoshop my face onto explicit and degrading sexual images.

Unlike other forms of revenge porn, creating images or videos of this nature is not yet illegal in the UK, therefore the person who subjected me to this has walked away without any punishment and without any justice for me. 

In October 2018 The Women and Equalities Committee called on the UK Government to introduce new legislation on image-based sexual abuse in order to criminalise ALL non-consensual creation and distribution of intimate sexual images. In 2019 law expert Dr Aislinn O'connell told the independent that our current laws on image sharing are piecemeal and not fit for purpose.  

Finally in July last year The Law Commission published a report, for the reform of the law to address all forms of intimate image abuse including creating and sharing 'deepfakes' and nudified images without consent.

This has been in discussion for 5 years now and the law is still not protecting the victims of these crimes, how many more years will pass before things change. According to cybersecurity firm Sensity, deepfakes are growing exponentially, doubling every six months. Of the 85,000 circulating online, 90 percent depict non-consensual porn featuring women.

This whole ordeal has left me feeling ashamed, degraded, violated, angry and let down by our justice system, that there's no protection from this and even more so that these images can not be removed from circulating the Internet despite a detectives best efforts. Having spent the last week feeling disheartened by the lack of protection to victims of this crime, I'm compelled to try and take back some control and hopefully through sharing my story and raising awareness on this very taboo subject, it might help speed up the government to make 'Deepfake Porn ' and similar malicious content illegal by creating one clear law on the ban of creating and sharing these harmful explicit images. 

Please join me in the fight to help protect and give justice to others who are being subjected to such a degrading and harmful form of pornography by signing and sharing this petition.

Thank you, Sophie x