UK deepfake law depends on which nation you are in. In England and Wales, sharing or threatening to share an intimate deepfake of an adult without consent is an offence under section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and under the commencement regulations creating one, or asking someone else to create one, has also been an offence since 6 February 2026. Scotland criminalises sharing altered intimate images but has no creation offence yet, and Northern Ireland's sharing offence excludes images that are only sexual because they were altered.
This page is general information about the law for adults, not legal advice. If a fake of you is circulating now, the deepfake first-response plan covers evidence, reports and hashing in order. Leaks of real paid content work differently in UK law because of an exemption for previously shared material, which the guide to whether leaking creator content is illegal explains.
Sharing and threatening: section 66B
Section 66B contains four offences, all built around a photograph or film that shows, or appears to show, another person in an intimate state. The base offence is intentionally sharing it without consent and without a reasonable belief in consent. Two more add a purpose: causing alarm, distress or humiliation, or obtaining sexual gratification. The fourth is threatening to share, intending or being reckless about the target or someone who knows them fearing the threat will be carried out, and prosecutors do not have to prove the image exists. The base offence is summary only; the other three carry up to 2 years on indictment, according to the section itself.
Deepfakes fit because of the definitions. Section 66D borrows the meaning of photograph and film from section 66A, which includes an image made or altered by computer graphics that appears to be a photograph or film. Sharing means giving, showing or making it available by any means, while the internet service carrying it is not treated as the sharer. An intimate state covers sexual acts, exposed genitals, buttocks or breasts, including where they are covered only by underwear or obscured by digital alteration, and toileting. The Crown Prosecution Service's communications offences guidance says the new offences are intended to address so-called deepfake images.
The exemptions in section 66C turn on facts about how a photograph came to exist and circulate: whether it was taken in a public place where the person had no reasonable expectation of privacy and was in that state voluntarily, or whether it had already been shared in public with the person's consent. Each condition describes something the person shown actually did or agreed to.
Creating and requesting: sections 66E and 66F
Section 66E makes it an offence to intentionally create a purported intimate image of another person without consent or a reasonable belief in consent. A purported intimate image is one that appears to be, or include, a photograph or film of the person when it is not, or not only, that; appears to be of an adult; and appears to show them in an intimate state. Edits to an existing photo that add no intimate element and no person who was not already in it are carved out. There is a reasonable excuse defence, and the offence is triable in the magistrates' court only.
Section 66F reaches the people who commission fakes. Asking for one, in general or specific terms, is an offence, and so is asking for a particular feature to be included or left out. Accepting an offer or meeting the conditions of one counts as a request, a public post can be a request even if it is not aimed at anyone, and the offence is complete whether or not the image is ever made and wherever in the world the person asked happens to be. For creators, that makes request threads naming you, and commission posts aimed at your likeness, evidence worth capturing.
Both sections were inserted by section 138 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. The explanatory note to the 2026 commencement regulations adds two practical points: prosecutions can be brought within six months of prosecutors having enough evidence, provided that is within three years of the offence, and courts sentencing the creating offence can make a deprivation order covering the image and anything containing it, such as a phone or laptop. From 29 June 2026, section 66I also makes it an offence to make, adapt, supply or offer to supply a tool for generating purported intimate images, subject to a defence of having taken all reasonable steps to prevent non-consensual use.
Offence table: conduct, section, start date, where to report
Each section link opens the provision on legislation.gov.uk, which shows the in-force date in its annotations. Police can be reached on 101, or 999 in an emergency, anywhere in the UK.
| Conduct | Section | In force from | Where to report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharing an intimate deepfake of an adult without consent (England and Wales) | Sexual Offences Act 2003, s 66B(1) | 31 January 2024 | Local police, with every URL and the account that posted it |
| Sharing one to humiliate or distress you, or for sexual gratification | s 66B(2) and (3) | 31 January 2024 | Police, pointing them to captions or messages that reveal the purpose |
| Threatening to share a fake, whether or not it exists | s 66B(4) | 31 January 2024 | Police, with the threat saved exactly as it was sent |
| Creating a purported intimate image of an adult (England and Wales) | s 66E | 6 February 2026 | Police; the Revenge Porn Helpline can help you report public copies |
| Asking someone to create one, including by accepting an offer | s 66F | 6 February 2026 | Police, with the request thread or message captured in full |
| Making or supplying a tool built to generate such images (England and Wales) | s 66I | 29 June 2026 | Police, and the platform or app store distributing the tool |
| Scotland: disclosing or threatening to disclose an intimate image, altered or not, intending or reckless as to fear, alarm or distress | Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016, s 2 | 3 July 2017 | Police Scotland, noting how the image was altered from a real photo |
| Northern Ireland: disclosing or threatening to disclose a private sexual photograph or film to cause distress | Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, s 51 | Amended to cover threats from 27 November 2023 | PSNI, while noting section 53 excludes images that are only sexual because of alteration |
What platforms now have to do
The Online Safety Act puts duties on services as well as offenders. Its Schedule 7 lists sections 66A and 66B as priority offences in a paragraph substituted on 8 January 2026, with sections 66E and 66F added on 29 June 2026. For priority offences, section 10 requires proportionate measures to stop users encountering the content in the first place, not only to remove it once reported.
Section 10(3A), inserted by section 100 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 from 29 June 2026, goes further for victims. When the person shown, or someone acting for them, makes an intimate image content report declaring it is made in good faith and giving enough detail to find the content and contact them, the service must operate systems designed to take that content and the same or substantially the same content down within 48 hours. A service can decline if it considers the content is not intimate image content, defined by reference to the section 66B sharing offences, or that the reporter is not the person shown or acting for them, and it must offer an expedited complaints route to people who have reported.
Ofcom has added detection to the picture. In May 2026 it announced a recommendation that certain services use hash matching against a database such as StopNCII, and SWGfL reports that 30 September 2026 was the date by which platforms were expected to have measures in place against intimate image abuse, explicit deepfakes included. Our StopNCII guide explains how to put a fake into that system.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland's offence in section 2 of the 2016 Act covers disclosing, or threatening to disclose, a photograph or film that shows or appears to show someone in an intimate situation, where the person intends to cause fear, alarm or distress or is reckless about it, and where the image has not previously been made public by them or with their consent. It carries up to 5 years on indictment under subsection (7). Section 3 defines a photograph as a still image, whether or not it has been altered in any way, that was originally captured by photography, so the wording plainly reaches altered photos; the Act does not separately mention images generated without any original photograph, so ask a Scottish solicitor how it applies to yours.
Northern Ireland is narrower. Its sharing offence protects private sexual photographs and films, but section 53 says an altered or combined image is not private and sexual if it is only so because of the alteration. SWGfL's August 2026 article on the law on synthetic intimate images confirms there is no law covering sharing synthetic sexual content there yet, notes that neither Scotland nor Northern Ireland has a creation offence, and says both governments are considering one.
Evidence checklist for a police report
Officers need to see which offence fits, so organise what you hand over around the elements above. Describe the image in words; do not attach it to emails or messages.
- A short timeline: when and where you found the fake, what it appears to show, and what makes you recognisable in it.
- Every URL, message link, username and profile link, with dates and times converted to UK time.
- Screenshots of each page around the image, capturing the account, caption and comments rather than just the picture.
- Any request thread, commission post or offer aimed at your likeness, which goes to the requesting offence.
- Messages, captions or comments that reveal why it was shared, such as to humiliate you, since that decides which version of section 66B applies.
- Threats copied word for word, with the screenshot showing who sent them and when.
- A clear statement that you never agreed to the image being made or shared, and nothing that could have suggested you did.
- Who you believe is responsible and the facts behind that belief, without contacting or confronting them.
- Report receipts and outcomes from each platform, and any reference from the Revenge Porn Helpline.
- Notes on how this has affected you, from fear for your safety to changes in how you work or travel.
- The crime reference number, recorded alongside the officer's name, plus a note asking how they want any original files provided.
Report creation and request offences promptly, because of the time limits in section 66H described above, and keep your evidence copies in one secure place rather than scattered across devices.
Support and civil routes
The Revenge Porn Helpline supports adults across the UK on 0345 6000 459. SWGfL says the helpline can help report synthetic intimate images posted publicly without consent, though its staff are not legal professionals. Where the same person keeps targeting you, a civil claim for harassment under section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 can bring damages for anxiety and an injunction in England and Wales; a solicitor can advise on that and other claims. If the fake reached you as an unsolicited explicit image, the cyberflashing law guide covers the separate section 66A offence. For comparison with another common-law system, see the Australian deepfake law map.
Limitations of this guide
This summarises legislation and official guidance as shown on 1 October 2026 and is not legal advice. The creation, request and tool offences are new and have little case law behind them, legislation.gov.uk lists further Crime and Policing Act 2026 amendments to these sections that are not yet in force, and Scotland and Northern Ireland may change their law soon. Whether an offence is made out depends on facts such as consent, purpose and how the image was produced. Call 999 if you are in danger, report suspected offences to police, and get advice from a solicitor before starting any civil claim.