A man who posted deepfake pornographic images of prominent Australian women has been slapped with a hefty fine as a “strong message” in a first-of-its-kind case.
The federal court ordered Anthony Rotondo, also known as Antonio, to pay a $343,500 penalty plus costs on Friday after the online regulator eSafety Commissioner brought a case against him almost two years ago.
Rotondo admitted to posting the images on a website called MrDeepFakes.com, which has since been shut down.
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The regulator had argued a significant civil penalty was needed to reflect the seriousness of the Online Safety Act breaches and the damaging impact the image-based abuse had on the women targeted.
“This action sends a strong message about the consequences for anyone who perpetrates deepfake image-based abuse,” the watchdog said late on Friday.
“eSafety remains deeply concerned by the non-consensual creation and sharing of explicit deepfake images, which can cause significant psychological and emotional distress.”
The commissioner Julie Inman Grant took Rotondo to the federal court in 2023 after he replied to a removal notice, saying it meant nothing to him as he was not an Australian resident.
“Get an arrest warrant if you think you are right,” he had said.
After a court ordered Rotondo to remove images and not share the pictures, he emailed them to 50 addresses including the eSafety Commissioner and media outlets.
The commissioner started federal court proceedings days after police found Rotondo had travelled from the Philippines to the Gold Coast.
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He later admitted the contempt.
The images were taken down after Rotondo voluntarily provided passwords and other information to the commissioner’s officers.
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