Papua New Guinea Drafts Laws to Criminalize AI Deepfakes

Is this a necessary stand against exploitative AI or a threat to free speech?

Published 4 days ago

Papua New Guinea Drafts Laws to Criminalize AI Deepfakes

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Above: Members of Parliament attend a parliamentary session in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on April 15, 2025. Image credit: Andrew Kutan/AFP/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-government narrative

Papua New Guinea is taking a necessary stand against AI deepfakes, and the rest of the world should take notes. Women, children and artists are being exploited through fabricated images, voice cloning and digital impersonation, and existing laws simply aren't cutting it. Criminalizing the harmful, non-consensual creation and sharing of manipulated content is the only serious response to a digital crisis that's already destroying lives and livelihoods.

Papua New Guinea Department of Information and Communications Technology Papua New Guinea National Research Institute

Government-critical narrative

Deepfake laws sound protective until governments start using them to silence satire and political speech. The Babylon Bee took Hawaii to court over exactly this kind of overreach, and a federal judge agreed that mandatory disclaimers on parody kill the joke and violate the First Amendment. Broad anti-deepfake legislation consistently fails narrow-tailoring requirements because states can't resist writing laws vague enough to target any speech that makes politicians uncomfortable.

Alliance Defending Freedom Inside Investigator