Creating or sharing deepfake, nude images of minors or non-consenting adults is now a crime in New Jersey, US.
A new law signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on April 2 (Wednesday), allows victims of such images morphed using AI on ‘nudify’ applications to sue ‘bad actors’ for damages of up to $1,000 per harmful deepfake image created either knowingly or recklessly.
This legislative action aims to help victims of nudify apps “take a stand against deceptive and dangerous deepfakes.” It comes more than a year after Francesca Mani, a 14-year-old girl from Westfield High School in New Jersey, learned that boys at her high school had used an AI nudify website to target her and other girls.
Unwilling to settle for just a single boy’s one- or two-day suspension, Mani decided to take matters into her own hands and launched a vocal campaign calling for lawmakers to criminalise deepfakes.
In December 2024, Mani appeared on CBS News’ 60 Minutes hosted by Anderson Cooper, where it came to be known that over 100 such ‘nudify’ sites were active around the world.
What does the law say?
As per the law, a deepfake is defined as any video or audio recording or image that appears to a reasonable person to realistically depict someone doing something they did not actually do.
It states that anyone found to be creating or sharing deepfakes for malicious purposes is punishable by up to five years in prison and liable to pay a maximum fine of $30,000 in addition to potential punitive damages if a victim can prove that the images were created in violation of the law.
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It is also illegal to create deepfakes to meddle with elections or damage the reputation of an individual or corporation, according to the new legislation.
Why it matters
“This victory belongs to every woman and teenager told nothing could be done, that it was impossible, and to just move on. It’s proof that with the right support, we can create change together,” Mani said in a press release from the New Jersey governor’s office.
In a post on LinkedIn, Mani’s mother thanked lawmakers who sponsored the law for “standing with us”.
“When used maliciously, deepfake technology can dismantle lives, distort reality, and exploit the most vulnerable among us,” former New Jersey Assemblyman Herb Conaway was quoted as saying by ArsTechnica.
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“I’m proud to have sponsored this legislation when I was still in the Assembly, as it will help us keep pace with advancing technology. This is about drawing a clear line between innovation and harm. It’s time we take a firm stand to protect individuals from digital deception, ensuring that AI serves to empower our communities,” he added.
While New Jersey lawmakers hope that the severe consequences provisioned by the law will deter bad actors from creating AI-generated nude images depicting minors, it is unclear if the legislation makes exceptions for the legitimate use of deepfakes by tech companies, movie studios, VFX artists, and other professionals.
What are nudify apps?
Essentially, nudify apps use generative AI to turn full-clothed images into realistic nude images of victims. Students often learn about these nudify apps or websites through ads on Instagram and other social media platforms.
One nudify app receives 90 per cent of its traffic from Instagram, where innocuous photos of minors are often screenshotted, according to AI safety advocacy group Encode Justice.
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These apps can transform simple screenshots into AI-generated fake nudes in a matter of seconds, and they are then rapidly circulated among students in a school via text messages and DMs.
While Encode Justice reportedly has a tracker to monitor deepfake incidents of minors in the US, the full extent of AI-generated, sexually explicit images depicting children is still unknown.