German cabinet approves law against digital violence
Sexualized deepfakes, covert images of a clothed backside and GPS trackers on cars are set to become crimes. So far only the draft bill is agreed.
In short
Germany's federal cabinet has signed off on a draft law against digital violence that would criminalize sexualized deepfakes, covert sexualized images of clothed body parts, and secretly tracking people by GPS.
At a glance
- Germany's federal cabinet has approved the draft law against digital violence.
- Sexualized deepfakes are to become a criminal offense.
- Sexualized images of a clothed backside can also become punishable.
- Covert GPS tracking of a person is to be covered as well.
- Women in particular are meant to be better protected from digital violence.
Germany's federal cabinet has approved a draft law against digital violence. It would criminalize sexualized deepfakes, covert sexualized images of clothed body parts, and secretly locating a person by GPS. Women in particular are meant to be better protected.
The three gaps the bill targets
The draft addresses three distinct behaviors: AI-generated sexualized depictions of real people, covert image-taking, and following someone with the help of technical devices.
The second element moves the line furthest. According to the report, a sexualized image of a clothed backside could become punishable, so a camera would no longer have to go under the clothing for the shot to be covered.
A tracker under someone else's car
The third element concerns location beacons. Clipping a GPS tracker to another person's vehicle or slipping one into their bag to follow them covertly would become prosecutable.
The economics explain the urgency: a magnetic tracker is cheap, sticks to a wheel arch on its own, and reports positions for months. The provision aims at conduct that often appears early in a pattern of stalking, not at its end.
A cabinet decision is not yet law
What the cabinet passed is a government bill, not binding law. It becomes law only after clearing the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, and the offenses and sentencing ranges can still shift during that process.
What we could not verify
The full text of the sources was not reachable for this piece. The Golem.de page served only its cookie wall, and the Spiegel article could not be fetched at all. That leaves the headline and the short summary as the only solid basis.
Open points therefore remain: the exact amended sections of the criminal code, the sentencing ranges, the ministry that drafted the bill, the schedule for the parliamentary readings, and any criticism from associations or academics. We flag these as unverified rather than estimating them.
The specifics are in the Golem.de report.
FAQ
Are sexualized deepfakes already illegal in Germany?
The new offense so far exists only as a government draft. It does not apply until the Bundestag and Bundesrat have agreed, although individual cases may already fall under existing provisions.
Is putting a GPS tracker on someone else's car a crime?
The draft explicitly criminalizes covert GPS location tracking. Which sections of the criminal code change, and what sentencing range would apply, could not be established from the sources reachable for this article.
When does the law against digital violence take effect?
No date is known. The cabinet decision is followed by deliberations in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, and we could not verify any timetable.
