Denmark deepfake bill
It is the first serious attempt in Europe to treat a person's likeness as a protected work rather than relying on defamation or data-protection law. If adopted, platforms face a new takedown class with pan-European spillover.
What it is
A proposed amendment to Danish copyright law granting individuals rights over realistic digital reproductions of their appearance and voice, allowing takedown demands against deepfakes distributed without consent, with exemptions for parody and satire.
Who is affected
It is the first serious attempt in Europe to treat a person's likeness as a protected work rather than relying on defamation or data-protection law. If adopted, platforms face a new takedown class with pan-European spillover.
Key obligations
- Consent required for realistic digital reproductions of a person
- Takedown obligations for platforms distributing non-consensual deepfakes
- Parody and satire exemptions preserved
Recent signals
Danish Supreme Court: AI-generated child abuse material is punished like real imagery
In case 98/2025, the Højesteret held that criminal code §235 covers AI-generated depictions of minors even where the persons are fictional. It ruled that fictionality must not reduce the sentence, and upheld 18 months in prison.
Denmark proposes copyright protection for likeness and voice
The Danish culture ministry announced an amendment giving individuals copyright-style rights over realistic digital reproductions of their appearance and voice, the first proposal of its kind in Europe.
Related instruments
- DKDenmark AI Act supervisionDenmark was among the first member states to legislate the national machinery of the AI Act: designating market-surveillance and n…
- EUEU AI ActThe world's first comprehensive, risk-based AI law. It bans a set of unacceptable practices (social scoring, manipulative AI, most…
- EUGPAI Code of PracticeA voluntary code operationalizing the AI Act's GPAI chapter across transparency, copyright and safety/security. Major model provid…
- ITItaly AI LawItaly became the first EU member state with a national AI law, layering sector rules (healthcare, work, justice, public administra…
- USTAKE IT DOWN ActRare bipartisan federal AI statute criminalizing publication of non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes, …
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