FOI 901/24 Deep Fake Porn

Dear Sir/Madam,

Enquiry Reference:  901 - 24                                                                        

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.

1. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023)?
2. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023).
3. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many people were charged under the Online Safety Act with the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
4. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many charges were made by your police force under the Online Safety Act of the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
5. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 18?
6. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 10?

For clarity, for the questions above, I am asking for charges under the following law, Section 66B, Sexual Offences Act:

1. A person (A) commits an offence if –

1. A intentionally shares a photograph or film which shows, or appears to show, another person (B) in an intimate state,
2. B does not consent to the sharing of the photograph or film, and
3. A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

Full legislation is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/66B

1. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force) – e.g. communication offences or harassment legislation?
2. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
3. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many people were charged with the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
4. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many charges were made by your police force of the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?

Having made enquiries within the Force our answer on this occasion is no information held, we do not have a field to identify if this is a deepfake. 

The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Decision Maker