Disney, Other Big Studios Oppose NY Law Banning ‘Deepfakes’ Porn

Back in December of 2017, AVN.com reported on the sudden appearance online of “deepfakes” porn—videos generated using an artificial intelligence algorithm in which the faces of celebrities were superimposed onto hardcore sex scenes. It took about two more months, but online platforms including Reddit and Twitter, as well as the free porn mega-site PornHub, announced that they would ban deepfakes porn from their sites, on the grounds that the celebrities—or in some cases, just regular people—whose faces  appeared in the explicit videos were used without their consent. For that matter, the porn performers who appeared in the original scenes used to create the AI-generated porn were not asked for their consent, either. Such celebs as Katy Perry (as seen in the image at the top of this page), Emma Watson, Ivanka Trump and Gal Gadot were among dozens who “appeared” in porn videos—in which, thanks to AI technology, their superimposed faces appeared to make impressively realistic expressions and contortions that seemed to fit the action in the scene. Now, after another three months, New York State is pushing new legislation, New York Assembly Bill A.8155B, that would outlaw deepfakes porn, or any use of a “digital replica” of a real person without that person’s consent. But New York is running into some formidable opposition, and not merely from anonymous Redditors who painstakingly create the AI videos on their personal computers—but from Hollywood’s biggest movie studios. The New York bill "establishes the right of privacy and the right of publicity for both living and deceased individuals,” but for the first time includes “digital replicas” in the uses of a person’s “persona” that are prohibited under the privacy law. “The studios say the bill ... isn't specific enough in its wording and run counter to the First Amendment of the Constitution,” according to an analysis by Esquire Magazine published on Tuesday. "The bill would create entirely unprecedented rights to control the use of 'digital replicas' and the use of celebrity images in sexually explicit material, which while presumably well-intended threaten expressive activities as a result of undefined, vague or otherwise problematic statutory language,” said Disney Vice President Lisa Pitney in a letter to the New York state assembly dated June 8. Pitney noted that New York already has a “well-established right of privacy” that has a century of legal rulings and precedent behind it. The Motion Picture Association of America—the lobbying group that represents the major Hollywood studios—also filed a “memorandum” with the state, saying that the bill’s reference to the use of digital replicas in “pornographic works” could also be interpreted to cover journalism as well. “The Bill does not define that term, (i.e. “pornographic”) which is extremely vague and lacks any accepted legal meaning,” the MPAA wrote. “Also, there are no exceptions or limitations in the Bill that would exempt uses in clearly First Amendment-protected contexts including news reporting, commentary, and analysis." Another studio, the Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, scoffed at the notion that deepfakes porn posed a problem at all, denying “that there is an actual pressing problem involving unauthorized 'digital replicas' of people that warrants rushed legislative intervention." Disney and the other studios are worried that the law could prevent the use of digitally recreated images of deceased movie stars, such as the digital reproductions of Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing that appeared in recent, Disney-produced Star Wars films, according to the Esquire analysis. The bill remains in committee in the New York State Assembly, with no votes on passage by the full legislature yet on the schedule. Image via screen capture of "deepfakes" video using superimposed face of Katy Perry