A Stormont politician has said the person who created a false pornographic video of her has yet to be found.
Cara Hunter of the Social Democratic and Labour Party was targeted in a deepfake video three years ago, when her face was digitally superimposed on to the face of another person.
The video was circulated widely on WhatsApp and social media in the run up to the 2022 Stormont elections.
A deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally altered with the help of artificial intelligence to replace the face of one person with the face of another.
Hunter has since campaigned for a change in the law that would see the creation of deepfake images to be made a criminal offence in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme, the assembly member for East Londonderry said while the Police Service of Northern Ireland was “very sympathetic”, it was unable to take the matter further due to the “lack of appropriate laws here and also a lack of investment in cybercrime technology”.
“What’s very sad is that we’re now almost three years on from what happened to me and, right now, the same thing could happen again – to any woman, to any child, to any man,” said Hunter.
“There’s a real sinister use of this technology and if someone does it to you, you want to know who has that level of anger or angst or resentment towards you that they would make something such as this.”
Hunter added that deepfakes were “extremely convincing” and she still did not know who targeted her.
She appealed to anyone with information to come forward and also appealed to the Department of Justice (DoJ) to invest more in tackling cybercrime.
“I’ve looked at the models of other countries, especially across Europe, and how they approach victims of deepfake technology and they’re far further ahead,” she said.
“In Germany, they have AI [artificial intelligence] centres, which look at AI innovation but also supporting people who have been deepfaked and enabling them to have guidance and support.
“We don’t have anything like that here.”
She previously told the Belfast Telegraph that the experience had been “the most horrific and stressful time of my entire life” and that it still affected her mental health three years on.
Later in January, Hunter will feature in a Channel 4 documentary about the issue with TV presenter Vicky Pattison.
I’m A Celebrity winner and former MTV Geordie Shore star Ms Pattison “directed and produced” a deepfake video featuring herself as part of the documentary.
The DoJ has been contacted for a response.
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