Response to interpellation 2023/24:585 on AI-generated revenge pornography
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M considers the prevention of and combating of online harassment to be a priority issue and that the criminal law protection should be effective 1. M argues that existing laws provide a purposeful protection, but that technological developments may require the protection to be reviewed 1 2. M wants to ensure that the penalty levels reflect the severity of the crimes 3 and that the legislation does not have loopholes for abuses with new technology 4. M emphasizes the importance of social preventive work 4. S expresses concern that current legislation may not cover AI-generated films 5. S wants the government to act proactively so as not to create new crime victims 6 and that there are no loopholes in the legislation 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Mathias Tegnér has asked me what measures I intend to take to ensure that violations created by new technology are criminalized.
I want to first establish that preventing and combating threats and violations that occur via the internet is a priority issue for the government. It is important to ensure that the criminal law protection is effective and purposeful.
Protection against threats and other privacy violations has been strengthened over time as a result of societal developments. As Mathias Tegnér points out, the offense of unlawful privacy violation was introduced on 1 January 2018. Anyone who intrudes into someone's private life by, for example, spreading images or films of someone's sex life is convicted, if the dissemination is intended to cause serious harm to the person the image concerns, of unlawful privacy violation to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of two years. The fact that what is spread has been altered, rearranged, or otherwise manipulated does not exclude that it contains information whose dissemination can constitute an intrusion into private life.
Depending on the circumstances, the dissemination of sexual material can also be assessed as defamation. This may be the case even if the images are manipulated or false. Different procedures involving pornographic images of children can be punishable as child pornography offenses. All conceivable forms of images are covered, including, for example, cartoon images or images produced with data technology. It is therefore not required that a child has been a model for the image or that it depicts a specific child.
Even outside the Penal Code, various penal provisions have been introduced to protect personal integrity. In the Act on Liability for Electronic Bulletin Boards, there is a criminally sanctioned obligation for the service provider to remove or prevent the further dissemination of messages whose content is clearly such as is referred to in, among other things, the provisions on unlawful privacy violations and child pornography offenses.
I also want to highlight that there is ongoing intensive work within the EU against threats, violence, and other violations of personal privacy. During the Swedish presidency, the Council agreed on a general guideline regarding a proposal for a directive on preventing and combating violence against women and violence in close relationships. The directive includes, among other things, a criminal provision that largely corresponds to the Swedish regulation on unlawful privacy infringement. The provision means that it shall be criminalized in all EU member states to disseminate, without consent, images that have been manipulated, for example with the help of artificial intelligence, and where it appears that a person is engaging in sexual acts. This also includes so-called deepfakes, where the material clearly resembles a real person and could mistakenly be perceived as authentic. The directive is expected to be finally adopted in April.
The existing penal provisions in Swedish legislation provide, in many respects, a purposeful protection against undesirable behaviors involving threats and serious violations. However, one cannot rule out that technical developments may once again give reason to review the criminal law protection for individuals' personal integrity, particularly regarding the dissemination of offensive material created by new technology.
Mathias Tegnér (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! As I state in my interpellation, for example, the non-profit organization Make Equal states on its website Näthatshjälpen that the dissemination of nude images, undressed images, sex images, sex films, medical certificates or health information, police certificates or autopsy images, confidential information from for example a sexual offense case or other types of film and image material is now illegal according to the legislation that the Minister refers to.
This law constitutes a response to the fact that it was previously easy to spread private matters on the internet. Fundamentally, it was quite often about a slighted boyfriend who had been left by his girlfriend and subsequently posted private pictures.
As a member of Parliament, I felt very proud when, on November 15, 2017, we voted through the amendment to the Penal Code that introduced the new criminal provision for unlawful privacy infringement. This means that from January 1, 2018, it is regulated in the Penal Code and is therefore also illegal.
Right now, we find ourselves in a time when technological development is moving extremely fast. Presumably, we are only a few months away from AI being able to generate films for a broad audience based on only a passport photo. We know that that type of deepfakes already exists today, but probably the technology will already be available to virtually all individuals in just a few months.
Some lawyers now claim that that type of film will not be affected by the legislation. The new criminal provision on unlawful privacy infringement will therefore possibly not affect that type of action. In that case, at least I feel a concern.
It is very good that the issue is being debated and handled within the EU. What I am looking for is that we will also in the future be certain that these violations will be illegal. It lasted for far too many years that many, preferably young girls, were affected by this type of conduct. It is very important that the government, in a time when technological development is extremely fast, also stays at the forefront and ensures that this type of conduct will be illegal also when it concerns a film generated by AI and does not correspond to reality.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Many thanks to Mathias Tegnér for the opportunity to discuss these important issues here in the chamber today!
Let me begin by agreeing with everything the member says regarding the great seriousness of this problem and the enormous privacy violations and human costs that come with this type of crime. My starting point is that the penal provisions we have should target the type of abuse that we are talking about here.
In light of the question from Mathias Tegnér, I also took note of what the organization Make Equal writes on its website Näthatshjälpen. There, they state that this is criminal. They turn to the person who may have been affected by such an assault and write: It is illegal. You must contact the police. File a police report, and preferably collect digital evidence so that this can be investigated and prosecuted and so that the guilty party can be punished! This is also an important message to the person who is affected by AI-generated assaults. One should assume that what they have experienced is illegal and turn to the police, so that they can investigate this and prosecute the person who is guilty of the crime.
But with that said, I also take note of what the member says about the fact that legislation must meet major technological leaps. The considerations you made and the grounds you had for your decisions a few years ago have not necessarily targeted all new forms of abuse that may occur, even if the reforms are quite close in time.
I want to highlight the process that is ongoing in the EU, because I believe it is a natural process for us to also take care of the issues that Mathias Tegnér raised. This concerns the directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which the Commission submitted in March 2022 and which we, during the Swedish presidency, managed to take on and turn into a general guideline. Now a negotiation with Parliament is taking place, and the whole thing should hopefully be in place during the spring.
This is a proposal that contains a number of different measures against, for example, female genital mutilation, online stalking, online harassment, and the sharing of intimate images without consent. So-called deepfakes are part of this. Once the EU process is complete, the next step for the Swedish side will be to conduct an investigation to ensure that all our commitments in accordance with the EU directive are addressed in our legislation. The issue that Mathias Tegnér raises naturally belongs there.
Of course, we shall, with joint efforts, ensure that the type of abuse that Mathias Tegnér raises in his interpellation shall be illegal and lead to prosecution and convictions for those who are responsible.
Mathias Tegnér (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! Both in my interpellation and in what the Minister addresses, there are good examples of the change in legislation that occurred in 2017-2018 and of how the support for civil society has ensured that legislators and civil society go hand in hand to try to smoke out and push away this type of completely unacceptable behavior, which unfortunately is all too common in the patriarchal society that Sweden actually is.
As I said in my first post, this type of violation has for far too long not been criminalized, or in any case, not clearly enough criminalized. But since 2018, they have been clearly criminalized, and therefore I am concerned when some lawyers now claim that they might not be in the future. In that case, it is important that we act proactively.
Therefore, I am pleased that the Minister expresses that this issue needs to be captured within the framework of the legislation that will be a consequence of the work within the EU. I feel a sense of joy that we succeed in abstaining from political bickering and agree that men's violence against women needs to be combated in very many different ways. I feel a sense of security in that the Minister also acknowledges that the government will work on this issue. Just as the Minister said, it is an extremely great violation that many young women and girls are subjected to in today's society.
It is also pleasing that the Minister mentions other types of problems that one works with within the framework of EU legislation. I have myself submitted a motion on, for example, female genital mutilation. There are many things to do to ensure that both Sweden and the world become more equal. We all need to work on smoking out old-fashioned patriarchal structures.
When it comes to this question, I feel, in short, a sense of confidence through the clear acknowledgment from the Minister. This is, therefore, something that the government will address. What is important here, I perceive, is that we are one step ahead and not one step behind.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I am also pleased that we agree on the points in these important issues. It is extremely important that we also review the sentencing levels when it comes to this type of crime. It is an important part of the major review of sentences that is now taking place under Petra Lundh's leadership that we have a focus not only on the extremely serious crime that occurs in the gang criminal environment but also on other serious crime with major negative consequences for the crime victims. It is not least about men's violence against women but also about the type of abuse that we are talking about here.
The question that Mathias Tegnér raises also concerns ensuring not only what is my starting point, namely that the penalties must better reflect the seriousness of these crimes, but also that all actions that we strongly dislike and do not want to see in our society become criminalized, so that these actions can be prosecuted and penalties can be imposed for them.
I am pleased with what we have now achieved in cooperation with other EU countries, not least during the Swedish presidency, and that we were able to move the process forward regarding this EU directive. In addition to what we are now talking about, I did mention female genital mutilation, cyberstalking and cyberharassment. There are also other important issues concerning protection for crime victims, access to judicial review, support for crime victims, various preventive measures, coordination and cooperation.
The question we are now talking about is therefore in a broader context. Once the directive is in place during the spring, the next step will be that we must in a careful manner go through what consequences it has for Swedish concerns. Then we shall ensure that the question that Mathias Tegnér raises is included as a natural part of that whole. It will ensure that we get an even more robust and more offensive protection against this type of transgression and abuse and sharper tools to prosecute and punish those who commit them.
Mathias Tegnér (S)
Madam Speaker! This entire lot concerns, of course, important issues. I am personally not a crime policy politician, so I will refrain from general reflections on what needs to be done in this area. As an economist, I can however state that we, at least historically, have been able to see that equal societies and preventive work have led to lower crime. I take that with me in these types of discussions. I do not always perceive that the government sees these connections, but I am certain that there will be many opportunities to debate it in this chamber.
I am pleased that the Minister is clear that this is an issue that will be addressed, furthermore before problems possibly arise, that is to say if the current type of conduct with the help of new technology under certain conditions were no longer to be criminalized.
What we want to achieve, and what I believe we agree on, is that no women should be affected by the actions and that no women or young girls should be outed online in one way or another, often by an old expoj friend.
It is clear that it is important for legislation and lawyers to explain that all types of unwanted behavior are illegal. In order for us not to get new crime victims, it is therefore important how one reasons about these issues and that it is clear that there are no loopholes in the legislation.
I therefore thank the Minister for the clear answer and hope for good cooperation in the future.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Mathias Tegnér once again for the opportunity to discuss these pressing issues during this Friday morning.
I first want to make a small clarification regarding crime prevention and include a reading tip, namely the new strategy for crime prevention measures that the government decided on and presented yesterday, which is to be implemented in parallel with the repressive crime prevention measures. It is important to me that repression, for example in the form of punishment, also has a crime-preventing effect.
It is perfectly obvious that the social preventive work to break, for example, the new recruitment of children and young people into criminal gangs is of absolutely crucial importance. I am very pleased to see that we are now taking the same systematic approach to social prevention as we do regarding crime policy.
I am also glad that in the directive we are now discussing, which has been negotiated at the EU level and which we managed to put on the agenda during the Swedish presidency, there are substantial parts that deal with precisely preventive measures, coordination and cooperation.
With this said, it is of course extremely important that the criminal legislation, as Mathias Tegnér says, does not have loopholes that cause things we truly do not accept, such as abuses with the help of new technology, to fall outside the punishable area for almost technical legal reasons in relation to a rapid technological development. We shall ensure that it is not, or will not be, in that way.
As I see it, we do this most naturally within the framework of the ongoing EU process, when we bring it home to Sweden. In this work, I hope and believe that we will be able to work closely together. It is an immensely urgent societal problem that we, with joint forces, will do everything we can to push back.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.