Maker of deepfake porn of NPO presenter receives conditional community service

The court has convicted a 39-year-old man from Amersfoort for creating and distributing a deepfake porn video of NPO presenter Welmoed Sijtsma. The man receives a suspended community service sentence, but no suspended prison sentence.

The 39-year-old man received Thursday imposed a conditional community service order of 180 hours, compared to the 120 hours of community service demanded two weeks ago by the Public Prosecution Service. The Public Prosecution Service had also demanded a suspended prison sentence of two months, but the judge did not agree. The judge does impose conditions on the community service sentence. For example, the perpetrator must continue his treatment and must report to the probation service.

The court writes that a ‘significant unconditional prison sentence’ would have been appropriate given the seriousness of the crime, but that this was nevertheless deviated from. The perpetrator has previously expressed regret for making and distributing the video. The court also takes into account the personal circumstances of the perpetrator, who also voluntarily undergoes treatment. The court does emphasize the consequences of deepfake porn on the victim. According to the judge, the video compromises the victim’s safety and infringes on her sexual autonomy, identity and privacy.

The perpetrator was convicted because he made a deepfake porn video of WNL presenter Welmoed Sijtsma. He placed Sijtsma’s face on the body of a porn actress. The video was then distributed on the Internet. The Public Prosecution Service previously described the video as ‘lifelike’ and ‘hardly distinguishable’ as a deepfake. The victim was alerted to the video via Instagram and subsequently filed a report. Last year Sijtsma made a documentary series about deepfake porn.