ACT Independent Senator David Pocock is today introducing a new private Senator’s bill to ensure that in a world of generative AI and deepfakes, Australians retain an explicit right over the use of their face and voice.
The Online Safety and Other Legislation Amendment (My Face, My Rights) Bill 2025 responds to clear gaps in Australia’s regulatory and legislative framework which has failed to keep up with rapidly evolving technology.
The bill prohibits the use of digitally altered or artificially generated audio or visual content that depicts a person’s face or voice without their consent by amending the Online Safety Act 2021 and the Privacy Act 1988.
“Artificial intelligence has progressed much faster than our laws have been able to keep pace with, meaning it’s now child’s play to create highly realistic fabricated images, videos, and audio recordings,” Senator Pocock said.
“These so-called deepfakes can be used in harmful, defamatory, and exploitative ways posing serious risks to privacy, reputation, and safety, particularly for women, children, and other vulnerable groups.
“We need to make sure people in our community can benefit from new technologies but are also protected from the very real harms they can inflict.
“Just last week we saw the ACCC release fresh warnings about increasingly sophisticated scams being perpetrated thanks to AI and the record amounts Australians are losing.
“The Albanese Government is asleep at the wheel when it comes to protecting Australians against the harms of artificial intelligence.”
The Bill will:
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Establish a complaints system for the non-consensual sharing of deepfake material.
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Strengthen the eSafety Commissioner’s powers to respond to AI-generated harm including the power to issue removal notices and formal warnings.
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Provide clear civil redress through the courts for individuals wrongfully depicted or exploited via deepfake material, including civil penalties for various contraventions including posting deepfake material without consent or failing to comply with a notice requiring removal of deepfake material.
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Define the concepts of deepfake material, non-consensual sharing, and subject of deepfake material.
- Align domestic law with Australia’s international human rights obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Senator Pocock may seek support to refer the bill to a senate committee for inquiry in 2026.