The European Parliament’s Gender Equality Committee has today passed an amendment from MEP Maria Walsh calling on the EU to ramp up the detection and prevention of deepfakes.
During a vote that took place in Parliament today, the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) supported a proposal from MEP Walsh which highlights the devastating consequences of deepfake images and videos, and pushes for increased safeguards.
MEP Maria Walsh, member of the FEMM Committee, said:
“I am profoundly concerned about the future impact of deepfakes on society, on politics and crucially, on the wellbeing of individuals. If we fail to take this seriously now, we face an online world that runs rampant with lies, abuse and manipulation.
“Deepfakes are on the rise across Europe, and blur the crucial line between fiction and reality. The difference between the two can have horrific implications, in particular for women and girls.
“Many of us are familiar with the deepfakes of public figures shared online. However, the devastating personal and emotional effects can be found in the sharing of fake images and videos, in particular those of an intimate nature, between friends, through group chats and in private.
“The major implications of deepfakes are two fold; firstly the emotional and mental toll they have on the wellbeing of individuals, and secondly the role they play in the spreading of false and misinformation in particular in the political realm.
“Politics is not keeping up with the increasing sophistication of deepfake technology. While content is becoming more lifelike and harder to detect, our policies and regulation are lagging far behind.
“I am calling on the EU to significantly increase the detection and prevention tools, and also to address gender-specific digital threats within AI regulations. I was heartened to see cross party support from members of the FEMM Committee which resulted in getting this proposal over the line.
“Along with increased regulation to improve detection and prevention, public awareness is key to combatting the negative consequences of deepfakes. Rather than believing everything we see online, our first instinct must be to question the integrity of the digital media we consume.”
