Pornographic deepfakes as a form of gender-based violence: the limits of the European Union’s digital governance

This thesis examines the extent to which the EU’s digital governance framework adequately addresses pornographic deepfakes as a form of gender-based violence. Chapter 1 establishes deep-porn as a structurally gendered harm, distinct from other forms of image-based sexual abuse. Chapter 2 assesses the EU’s four principal instruments, the GDPR, the DSA, the AI Act and Directive 2024/1385, demonstrating that each reveals a distinct deficiency, producing a reactive-only architecture that prioritises platform immunity over victim protection. Chapter 3 turns to South Korea, China and Australia, and to the R.E.A.L. and ABCDE Gen(der) AI Safety frameworks, to identify concrete reforms. The thesis argues that the EU's failures are a deliberate political choice, not an inevitability.