Synthetic Intimacy and Informational Sexual Autonomy: Regulating Deepfake Pornography in India

Abstract

The recent proliferation of deepfakes has disturbed the traditional legal paradigms that regulate imagebased sexual harassment in India. Although the existing laws, such as the Information Technology Act of 2000 and the Indian Penal Code, are often used to deal with the distribution of non-consensual intimate images, the underlying conceptual architectures of these laws continue to be rooted in pre-digital notions of obscenity, decency, and defamation. Deepfake pornography is a unique phenomenon, in which the sexual act itself can be completely manufactured, but the harm caused to the reputation, psychology, and dignity of the victims can be very real. This commentary will contend that the current legal architecture in India, which is rooted in obscenity and morality, is normatively and structurally ill-equipped to deal with AI-mediated sexual harms. The article argues that deepfakes reveal a deeper doctrinal gap – the lack of a recognized right to informational sexual autonomy. Unlike other forms of image abuse, deepfakes do not necessarily involve consent to record and distribute intimate information, therefore making it difficult to apply consent norms. Analysis of the recent regulatory measures in India, and also by comparing them to the developments in the UK, United States, and the European Union, this particular commentary argues that to properly regulate deepfakes, we need to move from moral policing to dignity-based regulation.