{"id":80556,"date":"2025-10-15T18:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/80556\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T18:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T18:25:16","slug":"nz-makes-first-deepfake-porn-prosecution-but-are-we-equipped-for-ai-onslaught","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/80556\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ makes first deepfake porn prosecution, but are we equipped for AI onslaught?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a rare twist, the victim of widespread humiliation orchestrated by a man she once rejected in high school was able to see him charged and prosecuted. But with AI on the rise, such cases are multiplying and sometimes the victims are school children. So why are deepfake porn prosecutions so unusual? Gill Higgins reports.<\/p>\n

A victim of deepfake porn, who was subjected to damage and humiliation before friends, family, ex partners and prospective employees, tracked down the young man who targeted her and took him to court. He pleaded guilty in what\u2019s believed to be New Zealand\u2019s first prosecution of this kind. <\/p>\n

The ordeal for Chloe (not her real name) began while at university. One day, as she opened her laptop, a friend request popped up on the gaming chat site Discord. Nothing unusual \u2013 except the request came from an account that had her own name, and a profile picture of herself, naked. \u201cIt shocked me,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause that wasn’t really me\u201d. <\/p>\n

Family photos used as AI porn: Watch this story on TVNZ+<\/a>. <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\"file<\/p>\n

file image (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

That was just the beginning. Chloe soon discovered that numerous photos had been taken from her social media accounts and manipulated with AI tools into pornographic pictures. <\/p>\n

The images depicted Chloe with her family. Chloe with her friends. Chloe sitting on her Dad\u2019s knee. \u201cTo even paint my dad in that kind of image is just disgusting,” she says. <\/p>\n

In some of the images, Chloe is just a young teen. In all of them, she\u2019s completely, and convincingly, naked while everyone else remains fully clothed. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The images, attached to the victim’s name, were available online. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

She felt her innocent photos had been not just stolen but weaponised, twisted to hurt and embarrass her. She discovered they\u2019d been sent to an ex-boyfriend, to friends, to friends\u2019 parents. And uploaded to a porn site. The images on that site were attached to her real name. \u201cI lost an opportunity in my career because when my name was searched, they came up, the photos came up\u201d. <\/p>\n

Chloe\u2019s social media accounts were soon flooded with messages. Some wanted to connect, others asked for more photos. One offered her a role in a porn movie, for \u201cgood money\u201d. She was horrified to see some of the images had been downloaded thousands of times. <\/p>\n

It was hard to comprehend that strangers \u2013 thousands of them \u2013 were seeing her that way and knew her name. Chloe, who says she’s usually level-headed and optimistic, became consumed by anxiety. \u201cThere’ve been times where I haven’t been able to leave the house, not even my bed. It was so hard to breathe and to just kind of grasp what was happening.\u201d. <\/p>\n

Eventually, she turned to her parents. \u201cI didn\u2019t tell them right away because I was scared of what they\u2019d think, and then I was like \u2018oh, I need help. This isn’t something I can handle on my own\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

Family photos used as AI porn: Watch this story on TVNZ+<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Dad’s digital detective work <\/p>\n

Chloe\u2019s Dad, who works in IT, was furious and determined to use his expertise to track down the person responsible. After some digital detective work, he managed to interact with an account that had been sharing the photos. He sent the account holder a link to a fake website he\u2019d built, supposedly offering photos of others. <\/p>\n

When the person tried to access the website, he entered his mobile number in order to receive a password. \u202f\u202f <\/p>\n

Chloe checked to see if the number matched any contacts in her social media accounts. It belonged to someone she\u2019d known at school. A person who\u2019d once been romantically interested in her. The feelings hadn\u2019t been mutual. <\/p>\n

\"file<\/p>\n

file image (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Motivated by high-school rejection: a key confession<\/p>\n

Chloe plucked up the courage to call her former school acquaintance. He hung up. She tried again, asking if he\u2019d shared the photos because he felt rejected by her. He admitted he had. <\/p>\n

Armed with that confession, Chloe and her father went to the police. They didn\u2019t know if the case would go anywhere as, until now, no one has ever been successfully prosecuted in New Zealand for this type of offence. Three other girls also made complaints against the offender. <\/p>\n

But experts have long warned that New Zealand\u2019s laws aren\u2019t equipped for this new reality. Under current rules, police can only prosecute if they can prove intent to cause harm, which is notoriously hard to do.<\/p>\n

In this sense, Chloe\u2019s case was different: she had a confession. <\/p>\n

Victim exposed, offender protected<\/p>\n

She wants to speak out to raise awareness of the damage these crimes cause \u2013 and is frustrated the offender\u2019s identity is protected. \u201cIt feels like I’m being silenced, and he’s allowed to continue to do what he wants with no one knowing.” <\/p>\n

Her dad shares her frustration. \u201cShe didn’t give consent. Yet, this guy isn\u2019t named for what he did. And I think that’s very wrong.”<\/p>\n

The porn site folder containing photos of Chloe has been removed, but she knows the pictures have been downloaded thousands of times, meaning they\u2019re still out there. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The offending included teenage pictures of Chloe. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

She wants justice. But she has to wait until next year. Although the offender pleaded guilty late last month, his sentencing won\u2019t take place until February. He faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $50,000 fine. <\/p>\n

A move for legal change<\/p>\n

Act MP Laura McClure says she\u2019s relieved to see a prosecution finally go ahead but believes victims need better legal protection. In some countries, the sharing of explicit deepfake images is treated as a crime, whether or not there\u2019s proof of intent to cause harm. <\/p>\n

\"Act<\/p>\n

Act MP Laura McClure (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

To this end, McClure has put a member\u2019s bill into the ballot to amend the Crimes Act 1961 and the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 expanding the definition of \u201cintimate visual recording\u201d to include images manipulated by AI without consent. <\/p>\n

As Act\u2019s education spokesperson, she says she\u2019s aware of growing concern from schools. Principals and parents report a rise in deepfake incidents, with technology becoming both easier to use and harder to detect. <\/p>\n

McClure adds that some young people have attempted suicide in response to being targeted. \u201cI’ve heard that from some victims.\u201d <\/p>\n

Chloe is worried for others too. \u201cI have been going to see a therapist. Because it’s not something you can kind of just move on from. It would be devastating to be alone to try and work through this.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a rare twist, the victim of widespread humiliation orchestrated by a man she once rejected in high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[5901,365,363,364,67,111,139,69,550,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-80556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-1news-recommends","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-artificialintelligence","12":"tag-crime-and-justice","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-social-issues","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}