Overview
- The Hesse interior ministry is setting up a central contact point for deepfakes at the state criminal police office to guide reports and improve investigations.
- Counselors in Potsdam say digital abuse now shows up in nearly every case of domestic or partner violence, with tactics that include stalking apps, phone controls and threats to leak intimate images.
- Advisers urge victims to save dated screenshots and chat logs and to use civil steps like takedown demands, restraining orders and cease‑and‑desist letters for faster protection than criminal cases often provide.
- Groups such as HateAid and bff report a legal gap because German law punishes sharing deepfakes more clearly than making them, and they are pressing for a dedicated digital‑violence statute.
- Scale and enforcement remain tough, with an official source counting about 100,000 AI videos online in 2023 and 96% pornographic, while anonymous accounts and foreign platforms make perpetrators hard to trace.