FranceCode Pénal Article 226-8 as Amended, Existing Offense Extended to Algorithmically Generated Content
Code penal art. 226-8, tel que modifie par la loi n. 2024-449 du 21 mai 2024 visant a securiser et a reguler l'espace numerique (SREN), art. 15
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 2024. Publisher's page: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000049563368In force since .
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- none
- Setting the rule reaches
- General
What it requires
- Do not create, or knowingly bring to the knowledge of the public or a third party, an algorithmically generated visual or audio content representing a real person's image or voice without their consent, unless it is obvious that the content is algorithmically generated or you expressly say so.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 3.3Targeted application scope is specified and documented based on the system’s capability, established context, and AI system categorization.
- NIST AI 600-1
- GAI-RISK-08Information Integrity
- GAI-RISK-11Obscene, Degrading, and/or Abusive Content
- MIT mitigations Draft
- NIST Privacy Framework
- CT.PO-P1Policies, processes, and procedures for authorizing data processing (e.g., organizational decisions, individual consent), revoking authorizations, and maintaining authorizations are established and in place.
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-005System Acceptance Testing
- ETSI EN 304 223
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Identifiers refer to ETSI EN 304 223 V2.1.1 (2025-12), © ETSI 2025, all rights reserved. ETSI owns the standard; no ETSI text (titles or sentences) is reproduced here. The standard is free to download from ETSI.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
SREN Article 15 added a sentence to Article 226-8's first alinea assimilating a non-consensual, algorithmically generated visual or audio content representing a person's image or words to the pre-existing offense already described in that alinea, punished with the same penalty that offense already carried, unless it is obvious the content is algorithmically generated or this is expressly stated. Article 15 separately inserted a new alinea raising that penalty to two years' imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine where the offense is committed through an online public communication service. The article's first alinea carries a base penalty of one year's imprisonment and a 15,000 euro fine, which the assimilated algorithmically generated content shares.
Penalty structure
Aggravated tier added by SREN art. 15 (new second alinea of Code penal art. 226-8): two years' imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine where the article 226-8 offense, including the algorithmically generated content this same amendment assimilates to it, is committed through an online public communication service. Base tier (first alinea): one year's imprisonment and a 15,000 euro fine.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 45,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
French criminal courts (tribunaux correctionnels), on prosecution by the public prosecutor (parquet); no dedicated regulator enforces this offense.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a label added by the platform or by the generating tool satisfy 'ou s'il n'en est pas expressément fait mention' (or it is expressly stated) in the second sentence of the first alinéa of Article 226-8, or must the person who brings the content to the public's knowledge make the mention himself?
- Does 'représentant l'image ou les paroles d'une personne' (representing a person's image or words) reach a synthetic face or voice that resembles a real person without reproducing any recording of her?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Article 226-8 as amended is a criminal prohibition assimilating a non-consensual, algorithmically generated visual or audio content representing a person's image or words to the pre-existing offense. It states no duty to create, keep or produce a log or record of any kind.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
SREN Article 15 amended the pre-existing Article 226-8 offense, whose first alinea had used the verb 'publier' (to publish) for its prohibited conduct.
Article 15 replaced 'publier' with 'porter a la connaissance du public ou d'un tiers' (bringing to the knowledge of the public or a third party) and added a sentence assimilating to that same, pre-existing offense, punished identically, a non-consensual, algorithmically generated visual or audio content representing a person's image or words, unless it is obvious that the content is algorithmically generated or this is expressly stated.
It also inserted a new alinea raising the penalty to two years' imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine where the offense, including the algorithmically generated content this same amendment assimilates to it, is committed through an online public communication service.
As amended, the first alinea punishes with one year's imprisonment and a 15,000 euro fine bringing to the knowledge of the public or a third party, by any means, the montage made with a person's words or image without consent, unless it is obvious that it is a montage or this is expressly stated. Article 64 of the enacting law, which lists every article whose commencement is delayed, does not name Article 15, and the article carries no commencement clause of its own.
Loi n° 2024-449 du 21 mai 2024 was published in the Journal officiel of . Article 1 of the Code civil puts a law with no commencement day of its own in force on the day after its publication in the Journal officiel.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app generates audio with AI, generates images with AI or generates video with AI.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .