Denmark plans bill to ban sharing realistic deepfakes without consent
The proposed copyright amendment would cover ordinary people and artists. Denmark’s culture minister hopes it will take effect at the start of 2027.
Denmark is scheduled to put forward legislation on 8 October 2026 that would prohibit people from distributing realistic digital imitations of someone’s face or voice without permission. The proposal would amend the country’s copyright law, extending protection to ordinary people and artists, whose performances would also be covered.
Culture minister Zenia Stampe said a central aim was to make major technology companies remove manipulated material promptly to limit harm. She hopes the legislation will come into force at the beginning of 2027.
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to generate or alter images, video or audio, falsely portraying someone’s words or actions. The proposed restrictions would allow exceptions for parody and satire, as well as caricature and criticism directed at power and society. Those exceptions would not extend to misinformation presenting specified serious dangers to people’s rights, essential interests, lives or property.
The proposal builds on a broad political agreement secured in June 2025 by Jakob Engel-Schmidt, the culture minister in the previous government, to protect people from digital imitations made without authorisation.
Separately, EU countries covered by the bloc’s directive addressing violence against women have until 14 June 2027 to implement it. The directive requires criminal penalties for creating sexually explicit manipulated material and then making it publicly available without consent when serious harm is likely. Denmark’s exemption from EU rules on justice and home affairs means it is not bound by that directive.
