Making one
Willfully generating an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person without consent is a third-degree felony. “Generate” includes offering or agreeing to do it.
Private Again · AI deepfakes · Fla. Stat. 836.13 and 47 U.S.C. 223(h)
An AI fake of you is a felony in Florida. You can sue the person who made it or shared it.
The image does not have to be real. It has to be a realistic version of you.
Florida statute 836.13 covers altered and computer-generated sexual images of a real, identifiable person, and it carries its own civil claim. Federal law makes publishing one a crime. This page quotes both, then says what the text leaves open. A free, confidential case review tells you which claims are yours. Please do NOT send us the images; we do not need them to have that conversation.
- Text quoted from the 2026 Florida Statutes and the U.S. Code
- Please do NOT send us the images
- Under 18 in the images? Go to the police, not to us
Fla. Stat. § 836.13
What counts as an altered sexual depiction
The statute is titled “Altered sexual depictions.” It was first enacted in 2022 and has been amended through the 2026 session. Here is the definition.
The definition, subsection (1)(a). An “altered sexual depiction” is any visual depiction that, “as a result of any type of digital, electronic, mechanical, or other modification, alteration, or adaptation, depicts a realistic version of an identifiable person” with another person’s nude body parts as their own, with computer-generated nude body parts as their own, or “engaging in sexual conduct” in which they did not engage. An “identifiable person” is someone “recognizable as an actual person by the person’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic, such as a unique birthmark, or other recognizable feature.”
Asking for one
Soliciting one without the person’s consent, knowing or with reason to know it was altered, is a third-degree felony.
Sharing one
Willfully and maliciously promoting one, or possessing it with intent to maliciously promote it, knowing or with reason to know it was altered, is a third-degree felony. “Promote” covers posting, sending, sharing, and advertising.
Every copy counts, and a disclaimer does not help them
“Every act, thing, or transaction prohibited by this section constitutes a separate offense.” A disclaimer inside the image saying you did not consent or did not do what is shown “is not a defense.”
§ 836.13(7)
Your civil claim
“An aggrieved person may initiate a civil action” against a person who violates subsection (2) or subsection (4): the person who generated the image, or the person who promoted it. The remedies are injunctive relief; “$10,000 or actual damages incurred as a result of a violation of subsection (2) or subsection (4), whichever is greater”; and reasonable attorney fees and costs.
The offense is committed in Florida “if any conduct that is an element of the offense, or any harm to the depicted person resulting from the offense, occurs within this state.”
What the text does not answer
The civil action names subsections (2) and (4). It does not name subsection (3), so the person who only asked for the image is not listed as a civil defendant, even though soliciting is a crime. The section lists no punitive damages. It does not define “realistic version,” and it states no filing deadline; the deadline comes from general limitations law and can start earlier than you would assume. Who you can name, and how much time is left, are the first two questions a case review answers.
Every figure on this page is what the statute allows. What a case is worth depends on the evidence, who the defendant is, and what a court or jury finds. No outcome is guaranteed.
§ 836.13(8)
The platform has 48 hours. We make the request.
Florida requires a covered platform to run a notice-and-removal process and, on a valid request from the identifiable person “or an authorized person acting on behalf of such person,” to remove the depiction “as soon as possible, but not later than 48 hours after receiving such request” and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies. A platform that does not reasonably comply “shall be treated as an unfair or a deceptive act or practice” under Florida’s deceptive-practices law.
The statute lists what a valid request contains: a signature, enough information to locate the image, a good-faith statement that it was published without consent, and contact information. We prepare and submit it, document when each one was sent, and track the 48 hours. The section gives you no direct claim against the platform; it exempts email and provider-curated sites, and the criminal and civil penalties do not reach services that only transmit or store other people’s content.
47 U.S.C. § 223(h)(3)
Federal law: publishing a “digital forgery” is a crime
The TAKE IT DOWN Act added a federal offense for AI fakes of adults. It gives the U.S. Attorney a charge to bring; it does not give you a claim to sue on.
The definition, subsection (h)(1)(B). A “digital forgery” is an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual “created through the use of software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means, including by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or altering an authentic visual depiction, that, when viewed as a whole by a reasonable person, is indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction of the individual.”
The offense
Knowingly publishing a digital forgery of an identifiable adult online, without consent, where what is shown was not voluntarily exposed in a public or commercial setting, is not a matter of public concern, and the publication “is intended to cause harm” or “causes harm, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm.”
Penalties, and threats
Up to two years in federal prison. Threatening to publish a forgery of an adult “for the purpose of intimidation, coercion, extortion, or to create mental distress” carries up to 18 months.
Consent to one thing is not consent to another
Consent to creating an image “shall not establish” consent to publish it, and sharing it with one person “shall not establish” consent to publication by the person charged.
What federal law leaves open
The federal civil claim defines an “intimate visual depiction” around the body “of an identifiable individual” and a “depicted individual” as one “whose body appears in whole or in part.” It does not say whether an image with a computer-generated body and your face qualifies. The federal 48-hour takedown section is written for intimate visual depictions and never uses the words “digital forgery”; Florida’s section 836.13(8) does cover them. Both are questions we answer for your facts before anything is filed.
Deepfake law in Florida, questions answered
Answers come from the statutes. Where the text does not answer, we say so.
Yes. Under section 836.13, willfully generating an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person without consent is a third-degree felony, and so is soliciting one or willfully and maliciously promoting one. The image only has to depict “a realistic version” of a real, recognizable person.
Yes. Section 836.13(7) gives an aggrieved person a civil action against a person who generated the image or promoted it, for an injunction, $10,000 or actual damages whichever is greater, and attorney fees and costs. The person who only solicited it is not named in the civil subsection.
No. The statute says a disclaimer inside the depiction stating that you did not consent, did not participate, or did not do what is shown “is not a defense and does not relieve a person of criminal liability.”
Florida’s definition includes a depiction “with computer-generated nude body parts as the nude body parts of the identifiable person,” and federal law’s “digital forgery” includes images created with “software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means.” What is not settled is whether the federal civil claim, which speaks of the body “of an identifiable individual,” reaches an image where the body is not yours. That is a question for your facts.
Florida gives a covered platform 48 hours after a valid request, and treats a failure to comply as a deceptive trade practice. The request has to contain what the statute lists, and we submit it, document it, and track the deadline as part of the case. Neither Florida nor federal law gives you a claim against the platform for missing the deadline.
The other three claims
Our main page covers publishing a real image, stolen or monetized images, and the federal civil claim, and how we file them together.