For years the answer to "someone made a fake nude of me" was a shrug and a takedown request. California just put a number on that harm — and it's a serious one.
Ava:
Michael, we covered intimate images and deepfakes earlier in Pink Data, but this deserves its own post because the law literally just moved. What changed?
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
The damages got real, and the net got wider. California already gave victims a civil cause of action for digitally created sexually explicit material — that's AB 602, alongside Civil Code § 1708.86. In October 2025, California approved AB 621, which strengthened those protections considerably.
What AB 621 changed
Ava:
So it's not only the person who made the image — it's the whole machine behind it.
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
Right. And this connects to something else women are seeing: fabricated explicit images used to humiliate them at work. A California court upheld a multimillion-dollar verdict where an AI-generated explicit image resembling a woman was circulated in her workplace, treating that as unlawful harassment. So a deepfake isn't just a personal-injury issue — in the wrong setting it's employment liability too.
Your moves haven't changed — but your leverage has
Ava: "It's a deepfake" used to feel like a dead end. Now it's the start of a claim.
Michael Benavides, Esq.:
A claim with real numbers behind it. That's the shift.
Pink Data
helps California women act on image-based abuse under the state's strengthened deepfake laws — preserving evidence, sending notices that start the legal clock, and pursuing the people and services responsible. Free, confidential consultation: 707-362-4166.
PINK DATA is a women's- and family-focused brand of the Law Office of Michael Benavides, Esq., California State Bar No. 270714. Ava is an editorial brand voice, not an attorney; all legal analysis is provided by Michael Benavides, Esq. General information about California law, not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship is formed. Deepfake statutes are changing quickly — verify current statutory text, damages figures, and effective dates before relying on them. If you are in danger, call 911; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233; the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative operates a crisis helpline for image-based abuse. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.
