Japan grappling with deepfake porn amid lack of laws to tackle issue

Deepfake pornography is increasingly causing serious harm in Japan. Such deepfakes are created with generative artificial intelligence (Gen Al) tools by using headshots of actresses and other people.

- 

Earlier in October, a man was arrested by the police on suspicion of creating and sharing sexual deepfakes of actresses.

While the government has begun investigating deepfake pornography, it has yet to find a basic solution to the issue.

"I learnt how to make (deepfakes) by reading articles and watching videos available on the internet," the 31-year-old company employee in Akita reportedly told investigators.

He was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on Oct 15 for posting the obscene images on social media.

"I was just trying to make some extra money," he said.

The police suspect that the man used free image-generating Al software on his home computer and trained the Al on images of 262 people, including actresses, pop idols and announcers, to create 20,000 sexual images that he shared, starting in October 2024.

The man reportedly was not professionally trained in information technology or the use of AI.

He offered subscriptions at five price tiers, ranging from US$1 (S$1.30) to US$100 a month, according to the police. The MPD believes that he illegally obtained around 1.2 million yen (S$10,200).