Deep fakes and the Right to Privacy: A Legal Analysis under Pakistan’s Data Protection and Cybercrime Frameworks

Abstract

The advent of deepfake technology, powered by sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI), presents a paradigm shift in the nature of digital threats to individual privacy and autonomy. This technology, which can create hyper-realistic but entirely fabricated audio-visual content, poses a unique challenge to legal systems worldwide. This paper provides a critical legal analysis of the efficacy of Pakistan's existing and emerging legal frameworks in combating the privacy-invasive harms of deepfakes. It scrutinizes the provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 and the draft Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) to assess their applicability and sufficiency. The analysis reveals that while PECA 2016 offers some remedial avenues through its cybercrime provisions, it suffers from significant gaps, including the lack of a specific deepfake offense and inadequate coverage of non-consensual intimate imagery. The PDPB, though a step in the right direction, is yet to be enacted and its provisions on automated processing and consent require further strengthening to address the unique challenges of AI-generated synthetic media. The paper incorporates a quantitative analysis of hypothetical survey data and case trends to illustrate the scale of the threat and the legal system's current unpreparedness. Finally, the paper proposes concrete legal and policy recommendations, including legislative amendments, judicial capacity building, and public awareness initiatives, to fortify Pakistan's digital ecosystem against the malicious use of deepfake technology.