EU: Ownership of Your Own Likeness

Danish Parliament has agreed to state in law that ownership of our bodies and voice extends to reproductions and likenesses of any kind. The copyright law (intellectual property, IP) will be amended.

IP rights are challenged by AI and wide availability of tools that allows copying and changing personal features and expressions, such as deepfakes. AI can use personal features in its learning process to create new and altered versions, which may infringe on personal liberty and rights. Deepfakes are videos or other online content generated by AI that alter a person, often in a way to spread false information or to embarrass them. For this reason, Denmark is now moving to fence in the abuse of such possibilities, seeing a risk of damage to personal freedom and integrity.

Broad agreement on deepfakes gives everyone the right to their own body and voice

The government and a broad cross-section of the parties in the Danish Parliament agree that there must be stronger protection against digital imitations of personal characteristics, according to a Press release from the Danish Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt (Moderates, liberal center-right).

Jakob Engel-Schmidt. Photo: Nana Reimers, © Kulturministeriet

Political agreement 26.06.2025

The government (Social Democracy, the Liberal Party and the Moderates), the Danish Democrats, the Socialist People's Party, the Conservative People's Party, the Green Party, the Danish Social Liberal Party (aka. ‘Radical Left’ which is somewhat misleading) and the Alternative have agreed on an proposal regarding protection against digital imitations containing personal characteristics.

It will soon be impossible to distinguish between genuine and manipulated material. Since images and videos quickly become embedded in people's subconscious, digitally manipulated versions of an image or video can create fundamental doubt about – and perhaps even a completely wrong perception of – what are genuine depictions of reality. The proposal therefore aims to ensure the right to one's own body and voice.

The political agreement will be implemented in a bill that will make it illegal to share, for example, deepfakes and other digital imitations of personal characteristics. A deepfake can be a very realistic representation of a person, including their appearance and voice. Parodies and satire will of course still be possible.

Performing artists will also receive better protection, so that it will be illegal to share realistic digital imitations of their performances in the future.

The Ministry of Culture will soon submit an amendment to the Copyright Act for consultation. Read the agreement here (in Danish).

Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt says:

‘I am extremely proud that we are now sending an unequivocal signal to all citizens that you have the right to your own body, your own voice and your own facial features. In a time when technology has overtaken the law, I am pleased that so many of the parties in the Danish Parliament will help protect artists and ordinary people from digital identity theft, which can now be done with just a few clicks from a screen. We must not accept that we humans can simply smoke in the digital copier and be abused for all sorts of purposes. Technology is developing rapidly, and in the future it will be even more difficult to distinguish reality from fiction in the digital world. Therefore, it is high time that we now create a safeguard against the spread of misinformation and at the same time send a clear signal to the tech giants.’

Group Chairman for the Social Democrats Leif Lahn Jensen says:

‘We really have a democratic problem when, with the help of artificial intelligence, ordinary people can be manipulated and, via manipulated images and videos, a completely different and incorrect impression of another person is created.

The possibilities are big today to imitate people and present them in a context that is far from actual reality. Therefore, the Social Democrats are pleased with the very broad agreement that we have made, so that we are sending a clear signal that we do not allow the misuse of existing video, audio and image content.’

Group Chairman for the Liberal Party Lars Christian Lilleholt says:

‘Artificial intelligence creates many new opportunities, but can also be misused to spread deepfake content and create a distorted picture of reality. With AI tools, you can pretend to be a well-known journalist, politician, musician or other person with just a few clicks and abuse the trust they enjoy in the public. It is not just harmful to the individual who has their identity stolen – it is harmful to democracy as a whole when we cannot trust the things we see. We must protect ourselves against these manipulations of reality, and that is why I am pleased that we have now entered into this agreement to amend the Copyright Act.’

Building up to a EU-wide protection

Other countries are also grabbling with these new issues associated with the rabid developments in computer processing of pictures, sound and other human expressions. The idea of the Danish lawmakers is clearly to inject this initiative into EU debates and reach agreement on a EU regulation suitable for the challenges.

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act classifies anything created by generative AI in one of four categories: minimal risk, limited risk, high-risk, and unacceptable risk. Deepfakes are considered ‘limited risk’ and are therefore subject to some transparency rules. That means there is no outright ban on deepfakes, but it forces companies to label AI-generated content on their platforms by putting watermarks on the videos, and to disclose which training sets are being used to develop their models. There is also a provision in the AI Act to ban manipulative used of AI, under which deepfakes would fall.

The EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence (europa.eu) criminalizes at EU level certain forms of violence against women offline (female genital mutilation and forced marriage) and online (non-consensual sharing of intimate images, cyber stalking, cyber harassment and incitement to hatred and violence on the ground of gender). The directive includes the production of deepfakes or any materials created using AI. It doesn’t specify what the penalty should be if an individual or company is found in violation of the directive, leaving it up to each EU member state to decide.

In France, the criminal code (digital spaces law) prohibits people from sharing any AI-created picture or audio content — such as deepfakes — without the consent of the person portrayed in it. Platforms that share such content are obliged to clearly indicate such content as AI-generated. There is also a specific ban on pornographic deepfakes, whether marked as fake or not.

Danish publishers launch a lawsuit against OpenAI for IP infringements

On Tuesday, the day when Denmark took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council, the association of Danish Press Publishers announced a lawsuit against copyright infringements of OpenAI using protected material in their models.

This case is fundamentally about protecting fair competition and fostering innovation. Market dominance should not grant any company the power to undermine rivals, exploit content creators, or distort democracy. No matter how big or powerful, no company is above the law.

In the case it is undisputed that:

– OpenAI has used DPCMO repertoire in its training
– OpenAI does not respect reservations in terms & conditions of a website
– OpenAI at least until “summer 2023” did not enable web publishers to express their preferences about the use of their content in AI
– the TDM exception in the DSM directive came into force in Denmark July 1, 2023

We look forward to starting this test case under the Danish EU Presidency with an EU programme stating in relation to copyright and AI that we need rules ensuring a fair, efficient market that encourages innovation, creativity, investment, and the creation of new content