Recently, the internet has witnessed the introduction of deepfake videos, ie highly realistic but fabricated videos, created using advanced technology, including machine learning While popular media have easily picked up the emergence of deepfake pornographic video clips, scientific research has only focused on the technological aspects of deepfake video and the impact of (deep)fake news Scientific research on the potential harms and threats arising from deepfake video, is lacking

Using qualitative research methods, the proposed research project will identify, weigh and map potential harms and threats of deepfake video for individuals’rights to personal and/or sexual integrity and data protection as well as for states’national security or interest Based thereon, the project will also identify and design effective interventions to prevent, mitigate or counter such negative effects In doing so, the project will take a subsidiarity-based approach, favouring interventions of a least-restrictive nature, according to the following cascade (1) non-legal, (2) legal but non-criminal law and (3) criminal law interventions The rationale therefore is to avoid undue or disproportionate restrictions of fundamental rights and freedoms, such as right to (sexual) self-determination, the right to privacy, the right to information, the freedom of speech, the freedom of enterprise or internet freedoms