Japan enacts revised child pornography law targeting AI-generated CSAM

Japan has amended its child pornography laws to criminalize the creation, possession and distribution of sexually explicit images of children generated by artificial intelligence, closing a loophole that previously covered only photographic material. The revised legislation, which passed the Diet in June 2024, imposes prison sentences of up to seven years for production and up to five years for possession, with prosecutors empowered to pursue cases involving purely synthetic imagery that depicts minors in sexual contexts. The law responds to a documented surge in AI-generated child sexual abuse material circulating on Japanese and international platforms.

Criminalization establishes liability after material has been created and shared; interception prevents the image from reaching the child or entering circulation. Guardii's anti-CSAM detection module identifies child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated and deepfake imagery, in direct messages as files are exchanged, blocking transmission before the recipient opens the message and enabling immediate escalation to law enforcement where criminal content is detected. Deployed across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms, the system operates at the point of contact to disrupt both distribution and the grooming conversations in which synthetic material is often used to coerce or desensitize targets, detecting threat patterns in real time rather than relying on post-distribution reporting and prosecutorial action alone.