Code Penal Article 226-8-1, Non-Consensual Sexual Montage and Algorithmically Generated Sexual Content
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not create or share, by any means, a non-consensual sexual montage, or a non-consensual, algorithmically generated sexual image, video, or audio reproducing a real person's likeness or voice; France punishes this with two years' imprisonment and a 60,000 euro fine.
- Expect the penalty to rise to three years' imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine where the montage or the algorithmically generated content is published through an online public communication service.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Article 226-8-1's first alinea punishes bringing to the knowledge of the public or a third party, by any means, a non-consensual sexual montage made with a person's words or image, with two years' imprisonment and a 60,000 euro fine; the same alinea assimilates a non-consensual, algorithmically generated sexual visual or audio content reproducing a person's image or words to that offense and punishes it identically. The article's final alinea raises both to three years' imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine where the montage or the algorithmically generated content is published through an online public communication service. A middle alinea applies the special press-law rules on determining responsible persons where the offense is committed through written or audiovisual press.
Penalty structure
Base tier (Art. 226-8-1, first alinea): two years' imprisonment and a 60,000 euro fine, for the non-consensual sexual montage offense and for the algorithmically generated sexual content assimilated to it. The same alinea's penalty rises to three years' imprisonment and 75,000 euros where the montage or algorithmically generated content is published through an online public communication service (Art. 226-8-1, final alinea).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 60,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
French criminal courts (tribunaux correctionnels), on prosecution by the public prosecutor (parquet); no dedicated regulator enforces this offense.
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 226-8-1, inserted after Article 226-8 by SREN Article 21, punishes with two years' imprisonment and a 60,000 euro fine bringing to the knowledge of the public or a third party, by any means, a non-consensual sexual montage made with a person's words or image. The same alinea assimilates to that offense, and punishes identically, a non-consensual, algorithmically generated visual or audio content of a sexual character reproducing a person's image or words.
The penalty rises to three years' imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine where the montage or the algorithmically generated content is published through an online public communication service. Article 64 of the enacting law, which lists every article whose commencement is delayed, does not name Article 21, and the article carries no commencement clause of its own.
When LexLint raises it
generates_contentprocesses_voicepublishes_adult_content
Read the law
official Journal officiel text of loi n. 2024-449 du 21 mai 2024 (SREN), Legifrance (read through an archived capture of the official page
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