FOI 359739

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 359739

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16^th September 2024.  Please find below the response to your request:

Please could you provide me with the data requested:

1. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023)?
2. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’ (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023).
3. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many people were charged under the Online Safety Act with the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
4. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many charges were made by your police force under the Online Safety Act of the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn’ or ‘deepfake porn’?
5. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 18?
6. Among the reports of victims of ‘deepfake porn’ for each of the months February, March, April, May, June, July and August 2024, how many were under the age of 10?

For clarity, for the questions above, I am asking for charges under the following law, Section 66B, Sexual Offences Act:

1. A person (A) commits an offence if –

1. A intentionally shares a photograph or film which shows, or appears to show, another person (B) in an intimate state,
2. B does not consent to the sharing of the photograph or film, and
3. A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

Full legislation is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/66B

1. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force) – e.g. communication offences or harassment legislation?
2. Given there could be multiple reports about one individual, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many individuals did your police force receive allegations about relating to the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
3. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many people were charged with the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?
4. Given one individual could be charged with multiple offences, I am also asking the following question. For each of the months August, September, October, November and December 2023 and January and February 2024, how many charges were made by your police force of the offence of deepfake sexual abuse under other legislation (before the Online Safety Act 2023 came into force)?

Reply

There have not been any for west Mercia Police so the response is Zero