Denmark is set to change its copyright laws to give people the legal rights to their facial and body features and voice, in a move designed to clamp down on nonconsensual deepfake content.
The law change, expected to go through later in 2025, would theoretically allow people to demand that deepfake porn depicting their fake image be removed from online platforms, on copyright grounds. Denmark’s Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, says he hopes that other governments will follow suit with similar law changes.
Denmark’s department of culture plans to submit law amendment proposals to bring in the copyright law change in the autumn of 2025, and the move already has broad cross-party agreement. The department said that when the bill is passed, tech companies failing to adhere to relevant copyright claims would be severely fined.
The Danish culture minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt (pictured above), told The Guardian that he hoped that other European countries would follow Denmark’s lead by bringing in their own copyright laws to tackle the nonconsensual creation and sharing of deepfakes.
There are already laws in Europe designed to crack down on nefarious use of nonconsensual deepfake porn content, that can be used for purposes such as revenge porn.
The European Union passed a law that criminalizes the “non-consensual production, manipulation or altering… of material that makes it appear as though a person is engaged in sexual activities”. EU member states have until June 2027 to implement it.
In France, sharing deepfake content without the consent of those depicted in it is illegal, and anyone distributing such content could be given a prison sentence of up to one year plus a fine. The UK is also bringing in tough prison sentences for the crime of creating nonconsensual deepfake porn.
Being able to fight nonconsensual deepfakes with copyright laws would provide a new avenue to crack down on nefarious deepfake porn content. In Denmark the new deepfake copyright law would not affect parodies and satire, which perhaps raises the issue of how to deal with deepfake content in the porn parody niche.
Engel-Schmidt said: “Of course this is new ground we are breaking, and if the platforms are not complying with that, we are willing to take additional steps.”
In May 2025 Mr Deepfakes, believed to be the biggest deepfake porn site in the world, shut down.
In the US the Take It Down Act, which made sharing sexually explicit videos and photos without the consent of those depicted in it illegal, was recently signed into law.
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