MEP Maria Walsh met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York and urged him to tackle the scourge of sexual deepfakes destroying the lives of women and girls.
MEP Walsh is on an official mission from the European Parliament to the UN’s 70th session of the Council on the Status of Women (CSW) and submitted a proposal to Secretary-General Guterres to end the creation and sharing of non-consensual deepfake images and videos.
In her proposal, MEP Walsh calls on the United Nations to take three key actions:
- Recognise sexual deepfakes as a form of gender-based violence, ensuring governments treat the abuse with the same seriousness as other forms of violence against women.
- Establish a High-Level UN Taskforce on Deepfakes to coordinate global action between governments, tech companies and civil society.
- Introduce universal standards for technology platforms, requiring the rapid removal of deepfake content, stronger reporting systems for victims, and measures to stop the monetisation of exploitative AI tools.
MEP Maria Walsh, a full member of the European Parliament’s Gender Equality Committee, said:
“I have travelled from Ireland to the UN with one clear message; deepfakes are destroying the lives of young girls and women across the world. We have failed to protect victims to date, we now need coordinated international action to end the weaponisation of deepfake technology.
“This is not a hypothetical problem for the future. At this very moment, anyone with a laptop and a single photograph can create a sexual deepfake of a woman in minutes and spread it across the internet for millions to see. The damage to reputations, careers and personal safety can be immediate and devastating.
“Women and girls are overwhelmingly the victims. 96% of deepfakes online are pornographic and 99% of victims are women. This is not just a technology issue; it’s a gender-based violence issue. In fact, I believe it to be the next frontier of violence against women.
“That is why I have asked the United Nations to recognise non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a form of gender-based violence and to consider establishing a high-level international taskforce to coordinate action. This issue crosses borders, and no single country can solve it alone.
“I raised this issue directly with Secretary-General António Guterres in New York, emphasising that only the UN has the convening power to bring together governments, technology companies and civil society to stop the spread of this abuse. If we act now, we can ensure that the digital future is safer, fairer and more respectful for women and girls everywhere.”