Despite the increased public attention and legislative activity, competing laws across borders could allow deepfakes to proliferate and make enforcement difficult both for platforms and authorities.

“The current trend towards different national solutions only creates legal confusion bad actors could exploit,” German S&D MEP Tiemo Wölken, a key legislator on Parliament’s copyright and AI report, told POLITICO.

A recent report that 50 MEPs have been targeted by sexualised deepfakes was a reminder that the technology can do serious harm. Even if so-called "nudification" apps will be covered by an update of the AI Act, the new socialist push signals growing momentum in Brussels to address the broader issue of deepfakes.

The S&D proposal doesn't specify the mechanism for implementing the ban, but some see following Denmark's path of applying copyright law as the most effective solution. Still, legal experts warn that creating new copyright-style protections for people's digital identities could backfire, potentially allowing companies to acquire control over their AI-generated likenesses.

“Don't bake it into copyright,” said Stina Teilmann-Lock, an associate professor at Copenhagen Business School. “Because then you just create problems for copyright and you might not solve the real issue.”

Denmark’s bill would amend the country’s copyright law to protect people's faces, voices and other identifying characteristics. It targets public distribution rather than private creation and allows exceptions for parody, satire and criticism. A separate provision would protect actors and musicians against AI imitations of their performances.