Law / Canada / Nova Scotia
Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act, fake intimate images
S.N.S. 2017, c. 7, ss. 3(f)-(g), 4A, 5-6, 11-11A
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://nslegislature.ca/sites/default/files/legc/statutes/intimate%20images%20and%20cyber-protection.pdfIn force.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
As of .
What it requires
- The Act binds anyone who distributes an intimate image without consent, and any person the Court orders to act. An intimate image includes a fake intimate image created through software, machine learning or artificial intelligence (ss. 3(f), 3(g)).
- Expect the Court, on the application of a person depicted in an intimate image distributed or threatened to be distributed without consent, to order the distributor to stop, to take down or disable access to the image, and to pay damages and account for profits (ss. 5, 6(1), 6(3)).
- If the Court orders you, as any person, provide the information in your possession that may help identify who used an Internet Protocol address, website, username, account or electronic mail address to distribute an intimate image without consent, and take down or disable access to the image (s. 6(2)).
- If a person depicted in an intimate image revokes consent and tells you, as a person who distributed it with consent, make every reasonable effort to make the image unavailable to others (s. 4A(2)).
- Do not contravene an order made under the Act, which is an offence unless it is an order for payment of damages or accounting of profits (s. 11).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Sections 11 and 11A(3) make contravening an order, and failing to comply with a notice to pay an administrative penalty, offences punishable on summary conviction, including by imprisonment for not more than six months.
Penalty structure
Section 11 sets a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both, for contravening an order, and section 11A(3) sets a fine of not more than $15,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both, for failing to comply with a notice to pay an administrative penalty.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 15,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Employees of the agency designated under section 12 and persons in a prescribed class, who may issue notices requiring payment of an administrative penalty
What this law does
A fake intimate image is a visual recording that, in a reasonably convincing manner, falsely depicts an identifiable person as nude, exposing the person's genital organs, anal region or breasts, or engaged in explicit sexual activity, that is created through any means including software, machine learning or artificial intelligence, and in respect of which it is reasonable to suspect that the person depicted would not consent to its recording or distribution.
An intimate image is a fake intimate image or a personal intimate image. A person depicted in an intimate image that is distributed without consent, or the parent or guardian of a minor so depicted, may apply to the Court for an order. In an application for an order respecting the distribution of an intimate image without consent, or a threatened distribution, it is presumed that the person depicted did not consent.
The Court may order a person who has distributed an intimate image without consent, or threatened to, not to distribute it or threaten to distribute it, and to take down or disable access to an intimate image.
The Court may order any person to provide information in the person's possession that may help identify a person who used an Internet Protocol address, website, electronic username or account, electronic mail address or other unique identifier to distribute an intimate image without consent, and to take down or disable access to the image. The Court may order the person to pay general, special, aggravated or punitive damages to the person depicted and to account for profits.
A person who revokes consent to the distribution of an intimate image depicting the person and tells the distributor that consent is revoked can require the distributor to make every reasonable effort to make the image unavailable to others.
A person who contravenes an order made under the Act, other than an order for payment of damages or accounting of profits, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $5,000 or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. A person who fails to comply with a notice to pay an administrative penalty is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $15,000 or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
The Act is consolidated as amended by sections 14 to 24 of chapter 15 of the Acts of 2026. The Act came into force on proclamation on . The Legislature's consolidated statutes do not include amendments that are not in force.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app generates content with AI, publishes adult content or operates a social platform.