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Law / Australia

Using a Carriage Service to Transmit Sexual Material Without Consent (Deepfake Offences)

Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (Cth) No. 78, 2024, inserting ss. 474.17A, 474.17AA into the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), No. 12, 1995

A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.

What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since 3 September 2024.

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 6 September 2026.

What it requires

  • Do not use a carriage service to transmit material that depicts, or appears to depict, a person aged 18 or over in a sexual pose or sexual activity, or their sexual organ, anal region, or, for a female, breasts, without that person's consent, knowing of the lack of consent or reckless as to it.
  • It is no defense that the material was unaltered, or that it was created or altered using technology, including artificial intelligence, to produce a realistic but false depiction of the person; a deepfake is covered on the same terms as an authentic recording.
  • If you were responsible for creating or altering the non-consensual material yourself, or if you have 3 or more prior civil penalty orders for failing to comply with an Online Safety Act 2021 removal notice, you face a higher maximum penalty than a person who merely transmits such material.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Private right of actionNo

Criminal exposure note

Under s. 474.17A(1), the base offence of transmitting sexual material of another person without consent carries a maximum of 6 years imprisonment. Under s. 474.17AA(1), the offence is aggravated to a maximum of 7 years imprisonment where the person had 3 or more prior civil penalty orders made against them under the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 for contravening the Online Safety Act 2021's removal-notice provisions. Under s. 474.17AA(5), a maximum of 7 years imprisonment also applies where the person was responsible for creating or altering the non-consensual material itself, regardless of who transmitted it.

Who enforces it

Enforcement body

Australian Federal Police, prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions

What it reaches

Obligation class

Prohibition

What it makes you log

Logging duty

Sections 474.17A and 474.17AA define the offence, its consent, knowledge and recklessness elements, and its penalties; neither section, nor the double jeopardy and alternative-verdict provisions in section 474.17AB, states anything about logging, record-keeping, or an audit trail.

Kind
None
As of
22 September 2026

Who checks it

Audit expectation

none

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

This Act inserted sections 474.17A and 474.17AA into the Criminal Code Act 1995, making it an offence to use a carriage service to transmit material depicting, or appearing to depict, a person aged 18 or over in a sexual pose or activity, or their sexual organ, anal region, or, for a female, breasts, without their consent, where the person transmitting it knows of the lack of consent or is reckless as to it.

It is irrelevant whether the transmitted material is unaltered or has been created or altered using technology, including artificial intelligence, to generate a realistic but false depiction of the person, the kind of material commonly called a deepfake.

The base offence carries a maximum of 6 years imprisonment; a person who transmits such material after 3 or more prior civil penalty orders for non-compliance with an Online Safety Act 2021 removal notice, or who was responsible for creating or altering the material themselves, faces an aggravated offence carrying a maximum of 7 years imprisonment.

When LexLint raises it

  • generates_content
  • publishes_adult_content

Read the law

official Act text, Federal Register of Legislation

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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