CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR THE MISUSE OF DEEPFAKE VIDEOS IN THE CRIME OF DEFAMATION UNDER THE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION AND TRANSACTIONS LAW

Abstract

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has produced deepfake technology capable of generating highly realistic audio-visual content that misrepresents a person's statements, conduct, or likeness. When such synthetic media is deliberately used to attack a person's honour or reputation, it raises pressing questions of criminal accountability under Indonesian positive law, particularly Law Number 1 of 2024 concerning the Second Amendment to the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE). This article examines how criminal liability for deepfake-based defamation is constructed under the UU ITE, focusing on the interaction between Article 27A (defamation), Article 35 (manipulation of electronic documents), Article 27 paragraph (1) (indecent content), and related provisions of the Personal Data Protection Law and the Penal Code. Using a normative juridical method combined with statutory, conceptual, and case-based approaches, this study finds that although the UU ITE does not expressly define the term "deepfake," its provisions on electronic document manipulation and defamation may be extended to cover deepfake-based attacks on reputation, provided that intent (mens rea), falsity of the content, and public disclosure can be proven. The study also identifies significant normative gaps: the absence of a specific statutory definition of synthetic or manipulated media, the difficulty of attributing authorship of AI-generated content, the complaint-based (delik aduan) character of Article 27A which limits standing to the individual victim, and jurisdictional obstacles when perpetrators or hosting platforms are located abroad. The article concludes that a coherent doctrine of criminal liability for deepfake-based defamation requires either an interpretive extension of existing norms through consistent judicial practice or a dedicated legislative amendment that explicitly defines synthetic and manipulated media within the electronic transactions legal framework.