Man Fined 300 Million Won for Distributing Deepfake Pornography... First Hefty Penalty in Australia

Man Created Deepfake Pornographic Images of Celebrities and Others
Defied Deletion Order, Claiming "Not an Australian Resident"
Convicted of Contempt of Court and Online Safety Act Violations... First Hefty Fine Imposed

A man in Australia has been fined approximately 300 million won for uploading deepfake pornographic videos of women online. According to Yonhap News on the 28th (local time), citing AFP and Australian public broadcaster ABC, the Federal Court in Brisbane, Queensland, northeastern Australia, sentenced the defendant, Antonio Rotondo, to a fine of 343,500 Australian dollars (about 317 million won) on the 26th. The court also ordered Rotondo to cover the legal costs of eSafety, Australia’s online safety regulator, which filed the lawsuit, and ruled that the identities of the female victims would remain confidential.

Photo to aid understanding of the article.

The court found that Rotondo violated the Online Safety Act by posting 12 deepfake pornographic images of six women, including celebrities, on a deepfake website 14 times between November 2022 and October 2023. Previously, Rotondo had remarked that producing pornography was "fun," and the court determined that he had intentionally and repeatedly broken the law in light of these circumstances.

In early 2023, Rotondo was ordered by the court to delete the images. However, he responded defiantly, stating, "I am not a resident of Australia, so the deletion notice means nothing to me," and "If you think you are right, apply for an arrest warrant." He was arrested by police in December of that year after entering Australia from the Philippines.

The court convicted Rotondo of contempt of court and imposed an additional fine of 25,000 Australian dollars (about 23 million won). Further fines were handed down after eSafety filed a separate lawsuit against him. During the trial, one of the victims stated, "Even though the video is clearly fake, I felt that my human rights had been violated," and described the situation as "shocking."

This ruling marks the first case in Australia where a hefty fine has been imposed in connection with deepfake pornography. eSafety assessed that the verdict "sends a strong message to anyone committing deepfake image-based abuse about the consequences they may face."

As cases of deepfake misuse have increased in Australia, such as the emergence of apps that use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create nude images, authorities have begun efforts to block them. The Australian Department of Communications is preparing legislation to block apps that create nude images and online stalking apps.

According to eSafety, the number of reports from minors who suffered harm from digitally manipulated private images, including deepfakes, has more than doubled in the past 18 months. Of these cases, about 80% targeted women. Starting later this year, the Australian government plans to completely ban the use of social networking services (SNS) such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram for children and adolescents under the age of 16 in order to protect their emotional well-being and privacy.

In South Korea, there is also a movement to regulate AI-generated images. On the 11th, Assemblyman Heo Young of the Democratic Party of Korea sponsored a partial amendment to the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. The amendment stipulates that anyone who produces, edits, synthesizes, or processes sexually explicit videos using AI technology, regardless of whether they depict real individuals, will face up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won.