Man ordered to pay $343,500 after posting deepfake pornographic images
An Australian Federal Court ordered Anthony Rotondo to pay $343,500 in penalties after the eSafety Commissioner successfully sued him for creating and sharing non-consensual deepfake pornographic images of prominent Australian women on the website MrDeepFakes.com. Rotondo admitted to the Online Safety Act breaches and later defied a court order by emailing the images to 50 addresses including the eSafety Commissioner.
What happened
Anthony Rotondo, also known as Antonio, posted deepfake pornographic images of prominent Australian women on the website MrDeepFakes.com. The eSafety Commissioner brought the case against him in 2023 after Rotondo replied to a removal notice saying it meant nothing to him as he was not an Australian resident and challenging the regulator to 'get an arrest warrant if you think you are right.'
After a Federal Court ordered Rotondo to remove the images and not share them, he emailed the images to 50 addresses including the eSafety Commissioner and media outlets. Police found that Rotondo had travelled from the Philippines to the Gold Coast; he later admitted the contempt of court. The images were removed after Rotondo voluntarily provided passwords and other information to the commissioner's officers.
Reported impact
The regulator argued that a significant civil penalty was needed to reflect the seriousness of the Online Safety Act breaches and the damaging impact the image-based abuse had on the women targeted. The eSafety Commissioner stated it remains 'deeply concerned by the non-consensual creation and sharing of explicit deepfake images, which can cause significant psychological and emotional distress.'
Governance controls
The Federal Court ordered Rotondo to pay a $343,500 penalty plus costs on Friday in what was described as a 'first-of-its-kind case.' The eSafety Commissioner stated the action 'sends a strong message about the consequences for anyone who perpetrates deepfake image-based abuse.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.