Creating and sharing sexually explicit "deepfakes" will become a criminal offence in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, in a bid to tackle a surge in the proliferation of such images, mainly targeting women and girls.

The British government on Tuesday announced it will criminalize the creation and sharing of so-called deepfake content amid a proliferation of the sexually explicit images and videos online.

Predators who create or share explicit deepfakes of people without their consent will face up to two years in prison as part of a new crackdown. A raft of new criminal offences are to be introduced, specifically targeting those who use the technology to make sexual content against their victims’ wishes.