Germany plans to criminalize rape videos and sexual deepfakes

Germany plans to criminalize the possession, production and distribution of videos depicting rape as part of proposed legislation targeting digital violence.

The bill, due to be considered by the Cabinet on Wednesday, also includes new offences covering identity misuse and the unauthorized creation and distribution of sexual deepfakes.

Such deepfakes are manipulated images or videos that falsely appear to show a real person naked or engaged in sexual acts.

Under current German law, the possession and production of videos showing rape are not generally prohibited when intended for private use, while their distribution is not automatically a criminal offence. Whether an offence has been committed depends on what is shown, how and where the footage was recorded and who receives it.

The draft legislation would also make it a criminal offence to take or distribute unauthorized images of another person's naked genitals, buttocks or female breasts.

The rules on digital voyeurism would apply regardless of whether the images were taken in public places, such as a sauna or nudist beach, or in private premises.

The bill put forward by Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig would also explicitly criminalize the use of a fake profile in the name of a real person to communicate in a way that damages that person's reputation.