Deepfake Porn Lawsuit New York: Suing Over AI-Generated Sexual Images

Your face. Someone else’s body. Footage you never made, posted where your colleagues can find it. Today, New York has an answer. A deepfake porn lawsuit New York permits under Civil Rights Law section 52-c lets you sue whoever created or spread the material. Notably, you do not have to prove the person meant to hurt you.

Section 52-c Has No Intent Requirement

Because section 52-c drops the intent element, it differs sharply from New York’s revenge porn law. Section 52-b requires proof that the sender acted to harass you, to annoy you or to alarm you. In contrast, section 52-c requires nothing of the kind.

Under section 52-c, you have a cause of action against a person who discloses, who disseminates or who publishes sexually explicit material of you. Liability attaches where that person “knows or reasonably should have known” you did not consent to its creation or its publication. Since the standard is objective, the poster’s private belief does not matter. Therefore, the poster who insists the video looked real still loses. Even so, the poster who assumed you had agreed loses as well.

What Counts as Digitization

Fortunately, the statute defines its terms with care. “Digitization” means realistically depicting another person’s nude body parts as yours. Under the same definition, it also covers computer-generated nude body parts as yours, or you engaging in sexual conduct you never engaged in. Notably, the definition expressly includes the use of software, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“Sexually explicit material” covers three situations. First, it covers you appearing nude, meaning with an unclothed or exposed intimate part. Next, it covers you appearing to engage in, or be subjected to, sexual conduct. Finally, it covers you posed to elicit sexual arousal where you would reasonably expect privacy.

Separately, a “depicted individual” is someone who appears, because of digitization, to give a performance they never gave. Beyond that, the definition reaches a real performance that someone later altered. That means the statute captures both the wholly fabricated video and the doctored one.

Neither a Disclaimer Nor Fame Is a Defense

Subdivision two of section 52-c addresses labels directly. Despite the common practice online, a disclaimer offers no defense. The rule holds whether the label says no one authorized the depiction or says you never took part in making it. Still, many sites post exactly that kind of label and treat it as legal cover. Here in New York, the label is worth nothing.

Meanwhile, consent is equally hard to fake. A depicted individual may consent only by knowingly and voluntarily signing a plain language agreement. That agreement must describe the material and the work in which it will appear. Furthermore, the individual may rescind that consent in writing within three business days. Two exceptions apply, namely where the person had three days to review the agreement or where counsel or an agent represented the person. Therefore a screenshot of a text message will not satisfy the statute.

Section 52-c also protects speech that deserves protection. For example, a person is not liable for reporting unlawful activity, for law enforcement duties or for legal proceedings. Additionally, no liability attaches where the material is a matter of legitimate public concern. Similar protection covers a work of political or newsworthy value and protected commentary and criticism.

Finally, the statute closes the obvious loophole. Sexually explicit material is not “of newsworthy value solely because the depicted individual is a public figure,” the statute says. Teachers, local officials, professional athletes and anyone with a following are frequent targets. Being recognizable is not consent.

What a Deepfake Porn Lawsuit New York Law Allows Can Recover

Remedies under section 52-c mirror the revenge porn statute and they are strong. Courts may award compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief and reasonable court costs and attorney’s fees. In fact, that fee provision is what makes these cases practical to bring.

Compensatory damages reach the real injury. Survivors describe anxiety, panic attacks, job loss and withdrawal from ordinary life. Our discussion of sexual abuse damages in New York covers how lawyers prove and value these harms. Because post-traumatic stress disorder is common in image-based abuse, our overview of PTSD after sexual assault also repays a close read.

Deadlines and the Anonymous Poster Problem

Every deepfake porn lawsuit New York permits runs on the later of two deadlines. One deadline runs three years from the dissemination or publication. Meanwhile, the other runs one year from the date you discover, or reasonably should have discovered, the publication. Often deepfakes surface long after someone makes them, so that discovery branch does real work.

Most of this material appears anonymously. Still, that is a practical obstacle rather than a legal one. New York allows suit against a John Doe defendant while subpoenas go out to identify the account holder. Our guide to suing an anonymous John Doe in New York explains how that unfolds.

Two further points help. First, the statute requires no prior criminal complaint, no prosecution and no conviction. Additionally, the section 52-c remedies are in addition to any other rights you hold. As a result, a deepfake case can travel alongside defamation, a harassment action or a lawsuit under the revenge porn statute.

Speak With The Law Firm of Andrew M. Stengel, P.C. in Confidence

Survivors of image-based sexual abuse often believe nothing can be done because the image is not real. New York decided the opposite. The Law Firm of Andrew M. Stengel, P.C. handles deepfake pornography lawsuits and revenge porn lawsuits throughout New York. Clients come from New York City, Westchester, Nassau County and upstate. Andrew Stengel is a former New York City prosecutor who now represents survivors as a New York sexual abuse lawyer.

Contact us to discuss your case. Email info@stengellaw.com or schedule at https://calendly.com/stengellaw.

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