Hong Kong mulls legislation to tackle AI ‘deepfake’ porn – official

2026-01-29 - 01:32

An inter-departmental working group set up by Hong Kong’s justice department is studying whether to set up legislation for cases involving indecent images generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), following an AI-porn scandal at a local university. Acting Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Lillian Cheong on January 28, 2025. Photo: LegCo webcast. In response to lawmakers’ questions on Wednesday, Acting Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Lillian Cheong said in Cantonese that the working group will coordinate with government bureaus to decide whether AI-related issues “should be addressed through legislation or other means.” The Department of Justice will release a timeline soon, she added. Speaking at the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Cheong noted that there is currently no specific offence targeting the production of indecent photos of other people. Other laws may apply if such images are published or if personal privacy is involved, “regardless of whether AI was used,” she said. See also: Hong Kong privacy watchdog contacts Elon Musk’s xAI over sexualised AI images of women and minors Last July, Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD), launched a criminal investigation into an AI-generated porn scandal at the city’s top university after a student allegedly created – but did not publish – indecent images of more than 20 women. The University of Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Dedicated legislation Addressing questions from lawmakers Wu Yingpeng and Mark Chong as to whether the government would propose a dedicated piece of legislation on AI issues, Cheong said that existing laws that apply in the real world also apply to the online realm. “As long as an offence was committed, there will be appropriate legislation,” Cheong said. “The use cases of AI across various industries, as well as their impact, may vary considerably. As such, it is difficult to comprehensively address all issues through a single piece of legislation alone,” she said. “Nevertheless, we remain committed to advancing safety standards for the responsible use of AI technology.” The Law Reform Commission’s Subcommittee on Cybercrime will also consult the public in due course, she added. Publishing intimate images without consent or threatening to do so is punishable with a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment, while crimes committed using computers fall under the offence of “access to computer with dishonest intent.” Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. Photo: PCPD, via Wikimedia Commons. Disclosing a person’s personal data without consent, and causing harm to them or their family members, may constitute the criminal offence of doxxing, Cheong said. HKU case In July, a male law student at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) was accused of creating pornographic images of around 20 to 30 women, including his classmates and teachers, without their consent. The student allegedly used photos he found on the women’s social media accounts to generate pornographic “deepfake” images using free online artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Following the incident, security minister Chris Tang said that city authorities were looking into expanding the city’s sexual offences laws to cover AI-generated indecent images.