Davao City dad pushes ordinance vs. AI-generated intimate images
By Ivy Tejano
(Konsehal Bonz Militar facebook page)
DAVAO CITY – A Davao City Councilor has called for the passage of a local ordinance that would penalize the creation, possession, and sharing of non-consensual digitally altered intimate images, including those generated using artificial intelligence.
Councilor Bonz Andre Militar, chairperson of the Committee on Information Technology, raised the issue in a privilege speech on Tuesday, August 11, citing the growing use of AI to create fake explicit images of people without their knowledge.
Militar said existing laws, including the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act and the Safe Spaces Act, address traditional forms of image-based abuse and online harassment but may not be sufficient to address the rapid development of AI technology.
"AI now makes it easy to create fake explicit images," Militar said, calling for a local ordinance to ban the creation, possession, and sharing of intimate images without consent, including AI-generated images.
The councilor also called for the establishment of a dedicated local task force to coordinate with cybercrime units and online platforms to facilitate the rapid removal of abusive content.
He said local social welfare offices should also be tapped to provide psychological counseling, legal aid, and temporary shelter for victims. Dedicated police desks or cybercrime units could likewise be established to handle confidential complaints.
Militar also urged the city to inform the public about StopNCII.org, a free service that helps victims prevent the sharing of their intimate images online.
"The service creates a unique digital fingerprint, or hash, of an intimate image directly on the victim's device without uploading the actual image," Militar said. "Participating platforms can then use the hash to detect and block images that match."
He said the system can help prevent the spread of intimate images across participating social media and online platforms while reducing the need for victims to file separate takedown requests.
Militar stressed that technology should not be used to violate people's dignity and called for stronger legal, enforcement, and support mechanisms to protect victims.
"Let us pass this local ordinance, equip our law enforcement, and support our victims so that Davao City remains a safe space, both offline and online," Militar said.