International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

Protecting citizens' privacy and other rights from abuse by deepfakes (DEEP-PRISMA)

DEEP-PRISMA investigates the growing risks of abusive deepfakes, focusing in particular on the ethical challenges they pose for citizens' informational self-determination and personal rights. The project combines empirical research with legal and ethical reflection to analyse how sexualised, fraudulent and defamatory deepfakes affect those involved, how effective existing protective mechanisms are, and where normative, legal and technical gaps exist. The aim is to empower people to know and protect their rights, while developing ethically and legally sound recommendations for responsible regulation, value-oriented technology design and accompanying social measures that safeguard democratic principles and privacy in a world shaped by AI.

A woman holds her hands in front of her face and from the left and the right hands are pressing against her head.

IZEW-Team

Logo with white face in front of prism and slogan "DEEP PRISMA: Protecting Citizens from Deepfakes"

Funding

February 2026 – January 2029

In coorperation with

Funded within the Plattform Privatheit.

Project description

Deepfakes – deceptively real images, audio or video manipulations created or manipulated with the help of AI – are spreading rapidly and can have serious consequences for those affected. DEEP-PRISMA is investigating how such fakes influence the lives of citizens and how effective existing protective mechanisms are. Particular attention is being paid to sexualised deepfakes, fraudulent deepfakes aand defamatory deepfakes that deliberately damage people's reputations. The project aims to help people protect their informational self-determination and defend themselves against digital manipulation.

DEEP-PRISMA investigates the extent to which citizens in the United Kingdom are affected by sexualised, fraudulent and defamatory deepfakes, how effective current laws and regulations – for example in data protection, criminal law or platform supervision – are in protecting citizens from deepfake abuse, and which legal and accompanying social measures could help to increase this protection. To this end, the project will survey victims of deepfakes and key stakeholders (such as law enforcement agencies, educational institutions and victim support centres).

The central research questions are:

  • What ethical and democratic values are threatened by sexualised, fraudulent and defamatory deepfakes?
  • What experiences do citizens have with abusive deepfakes?
  • What obstacles do they encounter when they want to assert their rights?
  • How can legal and social frameworks be improved to better protect citizens and their rights?

DEEP-PRISMA combines empirical research with ethical and legal reflection to make these challenges understandable and to identify ways to achieve more responsible regulation and governance of generative AI.