Deepfake Laws by State: 35 Czech Cases in Six Months

In the Czech Republic, police opened thirty-five criminal cases in just six months. All of them tied to fake, sexual images made or shared without consent. And in more than half the cases where police actually found a suspect, the victim walked away before charges could stick.

If you've ever posted a photo of your face online —

If you've ever posted a photo of your face online — a vacation pic, a work headshot, a school photo — this story is about you. Because the same tools that generate these fake images only need one thing to start. A picture of your face. On 1/1/2026, a new Czech law made it a crime to create or spread these images. Thirty-five cases followed in the first six months. But police think that number hides a much bigger problem. So why would a victim report an attack — then walk away before it's over?

Let's start with what actually changed in Czech law. Before this year, sharing a fake intimate image sat in a legal gray zone. Now, under a section of the criminal code, misusing someone's identity to make or distribute fake pornography is a named offense. Czech lawyers say it carries up to five years in prison. That's the tool investigators didn't have twelve months ago. For the rest of us, it means a victim can finally walk into a police station and point to an actual law.

The Czech Republic isn't alone here. According to a global legal survey, more than forty-nine places now treat non-consensual deepfakes as a crime. That number more than doubled between 2022 and 2026. The laws are catching up fast. The enforcement is not.

Here's where the human weight of this lands

And here's where the human weight of this lands. Researchers estimate that as much as ninety-eight percent of all deepfakes are pornographic. Almost all of it made without the person's consent. This isn't a niche tech problem. It's overwhelmingly aimed at real people — mostly women — who never agreed to any of it.

Now, the piece that should stop you. Remember that victim withdrawal number? In the Czech cases where police identified a suspect, more than half fell apart because the victim stepped back. Shame, fear, disbelief — those silence people. And U.K. data read the same way. Refuge, a U.K. charity, found that in fifty-six percent of cases with an identified suspect, nobody was charged at all. Think about that. The police found the person — and it still went nowhere.

There's one more finding that explains why speed matters so much. One audit study tested how platforms handle takedown requests. When someone filed a copyright claim, the image came down every single time — within about a day. When someone reported non-consensual nudity? Three weeks later, not one image had been removed. A copyright bot moves faster than a human being begging for their dignity back. For anyone helping a victim, that means screenshots and evidence have to be captured now — because the platform won't save it for you.