19-year-old Australian faces jail for making and sharing deepfakes of teenage girl
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Making and sharing deepfake images will lead to a boy being jailed in Australia. Photograph: (Pexels)
A boy in Australia will be prosecuted for making and sharing deepfake images of a teenage girl. He is the first person to be punished under the new Commonwealth law that makes deepfake pornography a crime punishable with jail.
A 19-year-old boy has become the first person in South Australia to be prosecuted under new Commonwealth laws designed to combat deepfake pornography. He is accused of creating and distributing images of a teenage girl. A suppression order on revealing his identity was lifted, and the man appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Australia made creating deepfake pornography a federal offence under the new Commonwealth laws in 2024. William Hamish Yeates from South Australia could be imprisoned for seven years for making and sharing deepfake images. He was charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent, with each count carrying a maximum prison term of seven years, ABC News reported. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed that this was the first such prosecution in the state.
The boy is also facing 12 counts of using a carriage service (the internet, social media, or SMS) in a harassing or offensive way. The charge carries a maximum prison term of five years. Defence lawyer Tim McGrath told the court that they were negotiating with the prosecution. "An offer has been put to the [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions] that acknowledges the conduct alleged in every offence before the court today," he said.
Yeates made the deepfakes and shared them on X
According to court papers, Yeates committed the crime when he was 18. He created the deepfake images of a young girl between February 8 and February 13 last year. The papers state he was "responsible for creating the material". He also "transmitted material" on the social media platform X. He is also accused of using two different X accounts in a manner that was deemed "menacing, harassing or offensive" to the alleged victim. Yeates did so at least 12 times between September 2024 and February 2025. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April.
The Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 saw an update to the Commonwealth Criminal Code to specifically add AI-generated material. It includes a penalty of five years for sharing or transmitting deepfake sexual images using the internet, social media, or SMS without the person's consent. Creating and then sharing such images invites a more severe punishment of seven years.
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