The Danish government, together with several parties in the Parliament, aim to strengthen the right to personal characteristics such as body and voice. A proposed amendment to the Copyright Act will enhance protection against deepfakes and other digital imitations.
With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), it has become easy for ordinary users to manipulate video, audio, and image content. Freely available tools can be found online and used on mobile phones, computers, and tablets.
These new technological possibilities offer many advantages, but they also make it possible to create highly realistic forgeries that can be indistinguishable from genuine content. Images and videos can quickly embed themselves in people’s subconscious and create fundamental doubt about what is real. Therefore, legislation must now keep pace with technological developments.
Two new forms of protection in the Copyright Act
The government, along with a large portion of the Danish Parliament, has thus agreed on a new political agreement against digital imitations, including deepfakes.
Deepfakes are highly realistic representations of a person, including facial features, appearance, and/or voice and sound. One example of a deepfake is the viral image of Pope Francis wearing a white Balenciaga puffer jacket from 2023.
As mentioned, deepfake technology can also be used to manipulate audio — including a person’s voice. There are cases of fraud where deepfakes are used in phone calls. For instance, one might receive a call that appears to be from a family member and be tricked into transferring money (source: Danish Police).
However, in the interests of freedom of expression, it will still be possible to share parodies and satirical representations.
The political agreement proposes two new forms of protection:
- A general protection against realistic, digitally generated imitations of personal characteristics
This protects the general public from the sharing of realistic, digitally generated imitations of personal characteristics (such as appearance, voice, etc.) without consent. - An imitation protection for performing artists
This protects performing artists from the sharing of realistic, digitally generated imitations of their artistic performances or expressions without consent.
(Source: The Ministry of Culture Denmark)
The aim is to establish a clear legal basis that enables individuals to have realistic digital imitations removed from various media platforms, including social media, forums, and comment sections. Violations will not result in fines or imprisonment for individuals who share such content. However, the affected party may be entitled to compensation under Danish law, depending on the circumstances.
Media, on the other hand, risk fines if they fail to act on reports of illegal content. This is in line with the guidelines of both the EU Commission and the DSA supervisory authority.
However, the new regulations will only apply in Denmark. Therefore, even if content is removed locally, it may still be accessible when accessing the same platform from outside Denmark.
Denmark as first movers
Denmark is currently the first EU country to regulate the use of digital imitations and deepfakes within the framework of copyright law. The Ministry of Culture has submitted the bill for consultation and expects to present it to the Danish Parliament in the winter of 2025/26. First, however, it must be notified to the EU Commission.
The Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt has already presented the proposal to the European Parliament in connection with Denmark’s EU presidency and is working to ensure that protection against digital imitations of personal characteristics is also introduced at EU level. The international response to the Danish bill has been overwhelmingly positive, with several countries showing great interest (source: The Ministry of Culture Denmark).