The bill proposes to amend the articles "Slander",

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A bill that proposes to introduce a new qualifying feature into several articles of the Criminal Code - the use of deepfake technologies - will be submitted to the State Duma on Monday. It was developed by the head of the Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) and Senator Alexei Pushkov; TASS has a copy of the document.

"We proposed to amend the iran whatsapp number database Criminal Code and clarify some qualifying features for attempts to use deepfake technologies for illegal purposes. Legally, this concept has not yet been spelled out in legislation, although it should have been. But in essence, we understand that these are technologies that allow the use of images or sounds, both natural and synthesized, to mislead people. And fraudsters take advantage of this," Nilov told TASS.

"Fraud", "Theft", "Extortion", "Fraud in the field of computer information" and "Causing property damage by deception or abuse of trust". According to the bill, slander committed using the image or voice (including falsified or artificially created) of the victim, as well as using his biometric data, will be punishable by a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles or imprisonment for up to two years. Fraud using such technologies may result in a fine of up to 400 thousand rubles or imprisonment for up to six years.

As the authors of the project noted in the explanatory note, the development of computer technologies has expanded the possibilities of creating video and audio materials based on images and voices of citizens, "artificially recreating non-existent events." They emphasized that previously, for example, attackers faked photographs for slander, but modern technologies, including neural networks and artificial intelligence (deepfake technologies, digital masks, etc.), make it possible to create fakes that are almost impossible to distinguish from real ones. They also make it possible to reproduce other biometric data.

Government recall

The government's official response to the bill, which is also at the disposal of TASS, notes that the industry legislation does not regulate issues of using identity substitution technologies. "Thus, the introduction of the proposed regulation into criminal legislation does not seem possible due to the lack of corresponding norms of substantive legislation, which entails significant risks of the formation of incorrect law enforcement practices," the document says.

In addition, the government specifies that the explanatory note to the draft law does not contain statistical or other data "indicating the public danger of the criminalized acts." In this regard, it is impossible to conclude that the said acts pose an increased degree of public danger, the government notes. "Based on the above, the draft law requires significant revision," the review states.