Understanding deep fakes
Learn more about deep fakes and how you can get help if you've been affected by them.
Image-based abuse is a type of online sexual harassment and can be an offence under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. Netsafe can often help remove the content as well provide information, support, and advice on the options available.
Last Updated30/07/2024
Image-based abuse is the name for the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. This includes intimate images that have been digitally altered like 'deep fakes'.
If you are concerned about the immediate safety of yourself or someone else, please call 111(tel:111).
If you want help or expert incident advice, you can contact us. Our service is free, non-judgmental, and available seven days a week.
Intimate images can be photos or videos of:
Deep fakes(/online-abuse-and-harassment/understanding-deep-fakes) refer to images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to either remove clothing from a non-sexualised image, making the individual appear naked, or to alter the facial identity in an existing intimate image. This form of digital alteration, recognised as image-based abuse, can frequently be exploited in scams, including sextortion,
With technologies ever improving, digitally edited fake nudes are becoming increasingly common and the imagery, more convincing.
Here in New Zealand, it doesn’t matter if an image is real or manipulated – if it’s causing you harm, it may fall under The Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA)(/our-work/helpline-services/the-harmful-digital-communications-act).
Learn more about deep fakes and how you can get help if you've been affected by them.
Intimate and deep fake images and videos are most often shared with the intention of shaming and humiliating the person being targeted.
If someone has shared an intimate image/video of you or is threatening to do so, report this to the police and contact Netsafe for practical and effective advice. We can often help you get the online content removed and explain the options available under the law.
Our service is free and confidential, and we regularly deal with these types of reports. We won’t ask for copies of the intimate image/video, but we may need you to supply URLs to the content. This is so we can explain to the platform exactly what content needs to be taken down.
If you're experiencing online abuse, fallen victim to a scam, or need some advice about another online issue, Netsafe is here to support you.
Our helpline is free, confidential and non-judgmental - providing expert advice and assistance seven days a week.
If you have copies of the intimate images/videos that are being shared or you are being threatened with, you can limit the chances of these being shared online by contacting StopNCII(https://stopncii.org/). StopNCII.org also accepts synthetic images (deep fakes(/online-abuse-and-harassment/understanding-deep-fakes)) and deals with them in the same way as genuine content.
StopNCII will generate a digital fingerprint, called a hash, of the images/videos on your device. STOPNCII shares the hash with Industry Partners(https://stopncii.org/partners/industry-partners/) (including all major social media platforms) so they can help detect and remove the images/videos from being shared online. Watch how StopNCII works(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0HAC1Ndbb0). This is a free service for anyone over 18.
If you’re under 18, you can use takeitdown.ncmec.org(https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/) – a similar free online tool that helps prevents the intimate images or video being shared on platforms such as Instagram(/social-media-safety/instagram), Facebook(/social-media-safety/facebook), TikTok(/social-media-safety/tiktok), Snapchat(/social-media-safety/snapchat), OnlyFans and Pornhub. This tool can also be used for synthetic images (deep fakes(/online-abuse-and-harassment/understanding-deep-fakes)) which are dealt with in the same way as genuine content.
If you have experienced image-based abuse, you may also find that your content has been re-shared on different platforms. Once you’ve flagged it, most of the major platforms use a technique called 'digital fingerprinting’ to detect repeated uploads.
Digital fingerprinting is the process of creating identification for multimedia files (e.g. a video clip, an audio file, an image). Different algorithms and software are used to create these based on information in the file and they are stored in a database, which can be used to check and stop future uploads.
Digital fingerprinting is commonly used by social media platforms and content creators to help detect copyright violations. Increasingly, platforms are also using this to mitigate the spread of harmful content e.g. child sexual abuse material, extremist content and image based sexual abuse.
Sharing (or threatening to share) nude or nearly nude images/videos of someone else without their consent can be an offence under The Harmful Digital Communications Act(/our-work/helpline-services/the-harmful-digital-communications-act) (HDCA) and a potential offence under other Acts. If prosecuted under the HDCA, the penalties can be a fine of up to $50,000 or up to two years jail for an individual, and up to $200,000 for a body corporate.
The majority of the criminal prosecutions under the HDCA in its first 18 months were for image-based abuse.
Sharing an intimate image/video with someone does not mean that person has consent to share it with others under the law. Netsafe can help you have the content removed and explain the options available to you.
Do not share intimate images of other people without their consent. If you come across intimate images of others unintentionally, delete the content immediately and do not pass it on.
If you have shared intimate content of someone without their consent, delete it immediately. If you have done this and would like some help contact Netsafe for more information.
We can talk to you about the situation and let you know what options are available to you. If appropriate, we can work with the other person/people involved to reach a resolution and may be able to contact online content hosts to request that the content be removed.
If you are concerned about the immediate safety of yourself or someone else, please call 111(tel:111).
You can contact Netsafe seven days a week for free, confidential and non-judgmental advice about an online issue impacting you or someone you know.
If you need some further support you can reach out to these free and confidential services:
Learn more about sextortion and get tips to help you stay safe online.
Get our advice on how to record digital evidence now.