Creating and sharing sexually explicit "deepfakes" will become a criminal offence in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, in a bid to tackle a surge in the proliferation of such images, mainly targeting women and girls.

Bad actors have created deepfakes to imitate celebrity endorsements, President Biden and employers. But, one of the most heinous uses is making sexually explicit deepfakes of real people. Now, the UK government is taking new steps to deter their creation,