'As a woman I'm terrified by deepfake apps. The government's proposed laws are a good step - but not enough'

OPINION -- It's a modern day fear women everywhere have to worry about – having nudes we never took being sent to people we've never met.

Yesterday, the Australian Parliament announced it's cracking down on sexually-explicit AI-generated content by banning deepfake apps which create nude images.

It's a step in the right direction, taking preventative action rather than waiting for it to happen and then punishing the offenders.

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And yet, it still won't be enough.

There will be alternatives popping up on the dark web, there will be apps that fly under the radar, and there'll be ways for offenders to cover their tracks.

Isn't it sad that violence against women is not just something we have to avoid in person anymore – it bleeds into our online lives as well.

Technological advances have become weapons, which are almost always pointed towards women.

Experts estimate that 98 per cent of deepfakes circulating online are pornographic, with most victims being women.

I don't think this is something that we can legislate our way out of.

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Revenge porn laws have been around for years, yet the crime has low reporting rates and even lower conviction rates.

In 2019, in Victoria alone, there were 2055 image-based offences reported to Victoria Police, yet only 478 offenders went to sentencing.

A shocking 23 per cent of convicted offenders were aged between 18 and 24, while eight per cent of offenders were under the age of 18.

A further 35 per cent were aged between 25 to 24.

I suspect these deepfake offenders are in the same age range, and I do not believe these deepfake laws will be any better at protecting women.

They will have the same poor conviction rates as other sexual violent acts, which largely impact women.

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There will also be thousands of victims who are too embarrassed to go to the police.

Remember, deepfakes mean these young women and teenagers, the main targets of these AI revenge porn plots, never actually took a nude photo.

But good luck trying to convince anyone that the pictures actually are fake – society does not have a good track record of believing victims.

It's terrifying that we could be forced to face the life-changing consequences that come with a naked photo being leaked, without ever taking one.

That's the reality of being a woman or a teenage girl in 2025.

This is yet another example of violence against women, and we know the system fails victims of violence at every corner.

The cold, hard truth is that change starts at home.

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If you think you don't need to talk to your children about respecting women, you do.

If you think your children wouldn't do something like that, think again.

No mother ever assumes her child could do something so horrible, and yet horrible things like this happen to women every. single. day.

There is no arresting our way out of the deep fake crisis; the only way out is education.

We need to be teaching young men that consent stretches far outside the bedroom, and that there are real victims behind deepfakes.

We need mothers and fathers to actually sit down with their children and explain the dangers of deepfakes, the real harm they do and that they should never be ashamed or embarrassed to speak up if they become victims.

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