Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024

Record AUS-02 · Act No. 78, 2024

Issued by: Parliament of Australia
Jurisdiction: Australia
Level · region: National · Oceania
Published / adopted: 2024-09-02
In force: 2024-09-03
Language: English
Official identifier: Act No. 78, 2024

Summary

Amends the Criminal Code to replace section 474.17A with an offence of using a carriage service to transmit sexual material depicting a person aged 18 or older, knowing that the person does not consent or reckless as to consent, punishable by 6 years' imprisonment. The offence applies whether the material is unaltered or was created or altered using technology, including AI-generated deepfakes. Aggravated offences, punishable by 7 years, apply where the offender created or altered the material or already had 3 or more civil penalty orders against them for contraventions of the Online Safety Act 2021.

Safety topics

deepfakes & synthetic mediaaccountability & liability

Scope

Borderline scope Not AI-specific, but the operative criminal offence for AI-generated deepfake sexual material; fits the precedent for non-AI-specific laws that are the operative instrument for an AI-safety question.

Status notes

Assented to on 2 September 2024; the whole Act commenced on the day after Royal Assent, 3 September 2024. Besides the new offences in sections 474.17A and 474.17AA, it repeals the definitions of private sexual material and subject in section 473.1, adds double jeopardy rules (section 474.17AB) and replaces the alternative verdict provision (section 474.17B). Material depicting a person under 18 falls under the Criminal Code's child abuse material offences. The Government's response of 1 April 2026 to the Senate Select Committee on Adopting AI refers to these August 2024 amendments as clarifying that the offences extend to material created or altered using AI or other technologies.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00078/asmade/text

Secondary source: https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/australian-government-response-senate-select-committee-adopting-artificial-intelligence-ai-report

Local copy

Archived, needs review. The page is a JavaScript application shell; the saved copy holds only the site's navigation, not the document. A source changed since the previous snapshot; both versions are kept. Last attempt 2026-10-17 21:35:45 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/AUS-02/2026-10-17/official.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 21:35:52 UTC

SHA-256 4266b2e04680878a33727b1122f3c3f6d93254ff14423b2360241811a162b6f7

Warning: The page is a JavaScript application shell; the saved copy holds only the site's navigation, not the document

Official source, rendered in a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/AUS-02/2026-10-17/official-rendered.html

Retrieved 2026-10-17 20:48:39 UTC

SHA-256 a40369030f03f9f057eba7b17eae19821dc191ddaffb0feb78b48995e7459999

Warning: The page is a JavaScript application shell; the saved copy holds only the site's navigation, not the document

Official source, printed to PDF by a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/AUS-02/2026-10-17/official-print-2.pdf

Retrieved 2026-10-17 21:38:15 UTC

SHA-256 fedffc24d115b3a35269363840ed684e878f5aec431419fc58fc75503413f245

Secondary source (third-party copy, not published) archive/AUS-02/2026-10-11/secondary.html

Retrieved 2026-10-11 13:59:18 UTC

SHA-256 a3977e8d6c82e0233b1ff9b1e326483f4538031d1dc0b7e1a1f3d89368600c3e

Verification

The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-17 · official-url-fetched

Recheck of 17 Oct 2026: the Federal Register of Legislation page was stored again on 17 Oct 2026 with a browser, as a rendered page (title, No. 78, 2024, 'In force', C2024A00078, 2 September 2024) and as a printed PDF that holds the Act as made: title, assent on 2 September 2024, the commencement table (the whole Act on the day after Royal Assent, 3 September 2024) and Schedule 1. The printed text ends partway through item 6 (section 474.17B). The Government response to the Senate Select Committee on Adopting AI (industry.gov.au, 1 Apr 2026) was re-read for the note on its description of the amendments.

Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-17: 9 field(s) supported, fixes applied to scope_note.

History

2026-10-17scope_note: – → Not AI-specific, but the operative criminal offence for AI-generated deepfake se — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 (recheck), candidate AUS-022026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17notes: Royal Assent and 'as made' date: 2 Sep 2024. Commencement is reportedly the day → Assented to on 2 September 2024; the whole Act commenced on the day after Royal — rewritten: commencement now confirmed; other amendments in Schedule 1 and the Senate response reference added2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17safety_topics: ["deepfakes & synthetic media", "child safety"] → ["deepfakes & synthetic media", "accountability & liability"] — 'child safety' removed (the offence covers persons aged 18 or older; minors fall under the child abuse material offences); 'accountability & liability' added for the criminal offences2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17summary: Amends the Criminal Code Act 1995 to criminalise sharing non-consensual sexually → Amends the Criminal Code to replace section 474.17A with an offence of using a c — rewritten from the stored Act: the offence elements, the 6-year and 7-year penalties and both aggravated offences now rest on the text2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2026-10-17date_in_force: – → 2024-09-03 — the commencement table of the Act as made: the whole Act commences the day after Royal Assent, 3 September 20242026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

Australia National AI Plan Australia · Published (non-binding, current)

Citation

Parliament of Australia. Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 [Act No. 78, 2024]. 2024-09-02. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00078/asmade/text. Status: In force; verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/AUS-02/2026-10-17/official.html retrieved 2026-10-17 21:35:52 UTC, SHA-256 4266b2e04680878a33727b1122f3c3f6d93254ff14423b2360241811a162b6f7. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record AUS-02.

Improve this record

Know of an amendment, a status change or an error? Report news or an error on GitHub; the form opens with this record filled in.