New state deepfake image protection law goes into effect June 6

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — A new state law that is aimed at protecting children and adults from the devastating consequences of deepfake images goes into effect on June 6. State Senator Mark Mullet is one of the legislators who worked on passing the bill after he heard about an incident from his daughter who attends Issaquah High School.

“It was just frustrating to hear the story,” Mullet said. “One of the boys in the ninth-grade class ended up taking pictures of other girls at the homecoming dance, then using AI, he kind of made it look like they were naked and then started sharing those photos around the school.” Mullet’s daughter wasn’t a victim herself, but Mullet said he began to look into it and was surprised there wasn’t a law on the books.

“That was the whole point of the legislation to make it clear, this is considered the same as if you were actually sharing actual naked photos,” he said. The new law states that first time offenders would face misdemeanor charges but repeat offenders could be looking at a felony.

“At the end of the day, there’s accountability now whether it’s a real photo or a doctored AI photo,” he said. KIRO 7 reached out to both the Issaquah School District and the Issaquah Police Department and are waiting to hear back about the incident and if there were any consequences for the student who took and doctors the photos. The student will likely not face any legal consequences because this law didn’t exist at the time.

“You can’t do retroactive laws at this point you just have to do the best you can moving forward and I happen to know that individual is no longer at the high school,” he said.

We reached out to the Issaquah School District again today regarding the incident. They say they responded to the incident base on legal advice, but if it happened again, they would have reported the incident to police. Their response read in part:

“In consultation with the district’s legal team, we reported the incident involving fake, artificial intelligence-generated imagery to CPS (Child Protective Services) out of an abundance of caution. Per our legal team, we are not required to report fake images to police. If our community was impacted by this again, we would also initiate reporting the incident to the police out of an abundance of caution.

The incident significantly affected some of our students at Issaquah High School. We understand the profound impact it had on those involved, and we offered support and guidance to students who were affected. After the incident occurred, we shared our empathy and support for the students and families involved in the situation. We reiterate that sentiment again today, along with the fact that the safety and well-being of our students is always our priority.

Any form of bullying, harassment, or mistreatment among our students is entirely unacceptable and goes against our values in the Issaquah School District. We work to ensure that every student feels safe, respected, and supported within our school community.”

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