Bill targeting fake porn images posted online clears House hurdle

The House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee has advanced legislation forcing online platforms to remove fake sexual images posted without a person’s consent.

Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan is sponsoring the bill (HB 1161) titled “Brooke’s Law,” named after a teenager from Duggan’s hometown of Jacksonville. The legislation would require internet platforms to develop and prominently promote a policy for removing deepfake images and videos of this type by the end of the year, after a person victimized attests to being a target.

“Researchers have discovered that 98% of the deepfake videos found online are explicitly pornographic and 99% of them feature women,” Duggan said during Wednesday’s committee hearing.

Duggan’s bill, which envisions the Florida Unfair Trade and Deceptive Practices Act as its enforcement mechanism, expands on legislation championed by former Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, which imposed criminal and civil penalties by creating law to force sites to take the objectionable image down.

The Senate version of the proposal, SB 1400 by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, has already moved through Commerce and Tourism as a committee substitute.

Each bill has two stops ahead. Duggan’s bill now heads to the House Judiciary Committee; Calatayud’s is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.