{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T07:16:35.484Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"sentencing","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2024","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":3,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-adelaide-yeates-deepfake-graduation-photo-first-federal-prosecution","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Netherby resident William Hamish Yeates, 19, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent'; 'The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed the case was the first prosecution of its type in SA.'; 'is also facing 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, a charge that carries a maximum prison term of five years'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On 25 February 2026 William Hamish Yeates, 19, of Netherby, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent, a Commonwealth offence introduced in 2024 against deepfake pornography, and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions said it was the first prosecution of its type in South Australia and a suppression order on his identity was lifted.","causal_attribution":"Court reporting by the ABC of the charges as read in court."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025.'; 'Yeates also pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way.'; 'The first person in Australia to be charged under new deepfake laws has admitted his guilt'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'He pleaded guilty in April to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025, and two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way.'; 'William Hamish Yeates, now aged 20, is the first person to be prosecuted under federal laws introduced in 2024 to combat adult deepfake pornography.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'The 20-year-old was the first person in Australia to be charged under federal laws introduced in 2024 to combat the rise of deepfake pornography.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 15 April 2026 he pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025 and two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, and he is the first person prosecuted in Australia under the 2024 federal deepfake law.","causal_attribution":"Guilty pleas recorded in court and reported by two independent court reporters."},{"id":"c3","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'The offending, which occurred between October 2024 and February 2025, involved the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of his victim that he shared online.'; 'The first time I saw my actual graduation picture was on a pornography website'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'The material was distributed across multiple accounts on the social media platform, X.'; 'The first time I saw my actual graduation photo was on a pornographic website'; 'confronted the man behind doctoring her graduation photo'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'on the social media platform X and that he was'; 'used two different X accounts on 12 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The offending involved creating sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of the victim from her graduation photograph and sharing them across accounts on X; she told the court the first time she saw her actual graduation picture was on a pornography website.","causal_attribution":"The pleas establish that he created and shared the material; the X accounts are in the court documents reported by ABC in February and in AAP's account; the pornography-website detail is the victim's statement to the court, reported by both outlets."},{"id":"c4","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'these images of me were fake but the impact they had is painfully real.'; 'Every time I now see that photo, I feel sick.'; 'of her life but said she would not let it define her.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'These images of me were fake, but the impact they had is painfully real.'; 'she would not let it dictate her world'; 'I will heal from this.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"In her victim impact statement she said the images were fake but their impact was painfully real, that she feels sick every time she sees her graduation photo, and that she would not let it define her or dictate her world.","causal_attribution":"The victim's own statement to the court, quoted by both court reporters."},{"id":"c5","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'a psychologist had diagnosed the 20-year-old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)'; 'She asked the court not to sentence Yeates to time behind bars'; 'My actions were repulsive and will continue to plague my mind for as long as I breathe'; 'Yeates faces a maximum penalty of seven years behind bars and will be sentenced next month.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Yeates read an apology in court, saying he was in a constant state of self-loathing and shame.'; 'his diagnoses of autism, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and persistent adjustment disorder'; 'was warranted, the prosector said'; 'Judge Anne Barnett will sentence Yeates on October 22.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"At the pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026 Yeates read an apology calling his actions repulsive; his counsel cited diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and asked for no custody; the Commonwealth prosecutor argued for a custodial sentence; sentencing is in October 2026.","causal_attribution":"Submissions made in open court and reported by both outlets."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'offending resulted in the'; 'of her life but said she would not let it define her.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"She said the discovery of the offending resulted in the darkest period of her life.","causal_attribution":"The victim's statement as paraphrased by the ABC; AAP does not carry this line."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The body in those images were not mine, but you somehow made me hate my body'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The Sun quotes her as saying the body in the images was not hers but he had made her hate her body; the line does not appear in the ABC or AAP reports.","causal_attribution":"The Sun's rendering of her statement; not in the two independent court reports."},{"id":"c8","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'beside altered videos of me with my full name and school attached to it.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"She told the court that the pornography website showed her real graduation photo beside altered videos of her with her full name and school attached.","causal_attribution":"The victim's statement as quoted by the ABC; AAP's quotation stops at the website."},{"id":"c9","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The 19-year-old was initially charged with 20 offences, but the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) withdrew those counts in lieu of the pleas to the four charges.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"He had initially been charged with 20 offences; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew those counts in lieu of the pleas to the four charges.","causal_attribution":"ABC court reporting of the April 2026 hearing."},{"id":"c10","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Judge Anne Barnett will sentence Yeates on October 22.'; 'This gross material will be forever in perpetuity online'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"AAP reports that Judge Anne Barnett will sentence him on 22 October 2026 and that the prosecutor said the material will be online in perpetuity.","causal_attribution":"AAP court reporting; the ABC gives October without a date or the judge's name."}],"effects":[{"label":"a teenage girl was depicted in sexually explicit deepfake images and videos posted on X and on a pornography website; she describes lasting distress and the prosecutor said the material will remain online","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"she describes the discovery as the darkest period of her life and feeling sick at her own graduation photo","claim_id":"c6","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-25/william-yeates-charged-deepfake-image-creation/106387272","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en-AU","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 25 February 2026, updated 27 February): charges, suppression order lifted, first prosecution of its type in SA, court-document allegations.","independence_group":"abc"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-15/sa-teen-pleads-guilty-over-deepfake-images/106567132","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en-AU","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 15 April 2026): guilty pleas, withdrawal of the other counts, committal to the District Court.","independence_group":"abc"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-22/survivor-of-first-australian-charged-under-deepfake-laws-speaks/107180484","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en-AU","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 22 September 2026): pre-sentence hearing, victim impact statement, apology, defence and prosecution submissions.","independence_group":"abc"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.easternriverinachronicle.com.au/story/9355441/i-will-heal-deepfake-porn-survivors-courageous-vow/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en-au","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-23 (Australian Associated Press, Abe Maddison, 22 September 2026, published by the Eastern Riverina Chronicle; an identical copy ran in The Singleton Argus): the same hearing with additional quotations and the 22 October sentencing date.","independence_group":"aap"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40457969/law-student-created-deepfake-nudes-teen-girl/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-23 through the r.jina.ai reader proxy (the live page returned a shell). Foreign-desk rewrite carrying the ABC and AAP quotations; adds that he was a second-year University of Adelaide law student and had become infatuated with the girl. Its text tracks the AAP copy (same quotations and truncations), so it shares the AAP independence group and is not used to corroborate any claim.","independence_group":"aap"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","justice"],"unknowns":["The software used to make the images and videos.","The victim's exact age at the time of the offending (a teenage girl finishing school; now 19).","The sentence, due on 22 October 2026.","Whether the material has been removed from the pornography website and X (the prosecutor said it will remain online).","Whether the two X accounts were his own or anonymous.","The date he was charged (the 25 February 2026 report covers a court appearance, not the charging)."],"geography":{"basis":"The offender lived in Netherby, Adelaide, and was prosecuted in the Adelaide Magistrates Court and the South Australian District Court (ABC, AAP); the victim delivered her statement in person in the Adelaide court (ABC, AAP); her residence and school are not reported. Court: South Australia (Commonwealth prosecution in a state court).","court_countries":["AU"],"event_countries":["AU"],"affected_person_countries":["AU"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a criminal record: guilty pleas under Australia's 2024 deepfake offence and a victim impact statement given in open court, reported by ABC News across three hearings and independently by the Australian Associated Press at the pre-sentence hearing. The victim is unnamed and not further identified here; the adult defendant is named as in the court reporting after the suppression order was lifted.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-23"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The offence to which he pleaded guilty is creating or altering sexual material without consent under the Commonwealth deepfake provisions; ABC and AAP describe the material as sexually explicit deepfake images and videos made from her graduation photograph. The software used is not identified.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Adelaide: a law student who turned a teenage girl's school graduation photograph into sexually explicit deepfake images and videos shared across accounts on X, in Australia's first prosecution under the 2024 federal deepfake law, heard her victim impact statement at a pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026; she told the court the fake images had a 'painfully real' impact and that she first saw her real graduation photo on a pornography website beside the altered videos with her full name and school","summary":"William Hamish Yeates, then 18, of Netherby in Adelaide, created sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of a teenage girl with whom, his counsel said, he had developed an obsession (The Sun describes her as a former friend), using her school graduation photograph, and shared them across multiple accounts on X between October 2024 and February 2025. Appearing in court in February 2026 charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, he became the first person in Australia prosecuted under the Commonwealth offence introduced in 2024 against adult deepfake pornography; in April 2026 he pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent (October 2024 to February 2025) and two of the carriage-service offence, and the remaining counts were withdrawn. At a pre-sentence hearing in the South Australian District Court on 22 September 2026 the victim, now 19, told the court that the first time she saw her actual graduation picture was on a pornography website beside altered videos of her with her full name and school attached, that she feels sick whenever she sees the photo, that the discovery led to the darkest period of her life, and that although the images were fake their impact was painfully real. Yeates read an apology; his counsel cited diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and asked for no custody; the Commonwealth prosecutor sought imprisonment. Sentencing is listed for 22 October 2026.","incidentDate":"2024-10-01","incidentEndDate":"2025-02-28","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"range","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-02-25","aiSystem":"AI image and video manipulation ('deepfake') software; the tools are not identified in the court reporting","aiProduct":"Unidentified image and video tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse","psychological_distress","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A teenage girl was depicted in sexually explicit deepfake images and videos made from her graduation photograph and posted across accounts on X and, with her full name and school attached, on a pornography website; in court she described lasting distress (feeling sick at her own graduation photo; the darkest period of her life) and the prosecutor said the material will remain online. The offender's guilty pleas establish that he made and shared the material; the harms are the victim's own account given in court.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"established","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One victim: every report refers to a single teenage girl (the alleged victim; his victim), and the pleas concern material depicting her. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"AU","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"pending","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-22/survivor-of-first-australian-charged-under-deepfake-laws-speaks/107180484","primarySourceLabel":"ABC News (Australia), 22 September 2026: Woman tells court of 'painfully real' impacts of sexually explicit deepfake images","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-23T03:45:53.574177+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:23.456953+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","australia","south-australia","adelaide","criminal-charges","non-consensual-images","x-twitter","first-prosecution","depicted-or-impersonated"]}]}