On 7 May, the European Parliament and Council struck a provisional deal to outlaw so-called nudifier apps under the Digital Omnibus on AI. These tools, which use generative AI to create realistic sexual deepfakes of individuals without their knowledge, have been condemned as a form of digital sexual abuse. The agreement marks a significant step in closing a legal loophole that previously allowed such technology to flourish.
Nudifier apps, also known as undressers or clothes removers, manipulate ordinary photos to produce explicit images. According to the European Parliament Research Service, around 8 million deepfakes were online in 2025, and 90 percent of online content is projected to be AI-generated by 2026. The vast majority of these deepfakes—96 percent—are created without the subject's consent, disproportionately targeting women and girls, who make up 99 percent of victims.
How the Ban Works
The provisional agreement prohibits any AI system specifically designed to generate non-consensual intimate content, including images, video, and audio. It holds developers of large-scale AI models directly responsible for foreseeable misuse, requiring them to embed permanent safety blocks into their core software. This shifts the burden from individual users to the companies building the models.
“We cannot enforce human behaviour here. So, we are going against the technology itself,” said German Greens MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, co-rapporteur for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee. The ban affects providers placing these systems on the EU market, organisations hosting them, and users caught exploiting the AI to generate such content.
Providers must assess foreseeable misuse before release and implement measures to prevent users from bypassing filters with clever prompts or minor image alterations. The AI Office will monitor compliance, ensuring safeguards are integrated into the model’s architecture. Penalties for non-compliance can reach €35 million or 7 percent of global annual turnover, under the AI Act’s framework.
“Legislative processes are much slower than innovation. We will only be able to cope with this if we have a principled way of regulating based on risk,” Lagodinsky added. “That’s why, for example, there are possibilities for the Commission to add certain new technologies as risky technologies in the AI Act.”
Why the Ban Matters
The move addresses a growing crisis. A 2026 UNICEF study across 11 countries found that at least 1.2 million children had their images manipulated into sexual deepfakes in 2025. The same year, research noted that threats to post non-consensual explicit media increase the odds of suicide plans, attempts, and self-harm. The tools have also fuelled a 26,385 percent increase in generated child sexual abuse imagery since 2024, alongside crimes like sextortion and blackmail.
MEP Michael McNamara from Renew Europe, co-rapporteur for the committee, explained the legal gap: “There was perceived to be a lacuna in the law in addressing them. That's why the Omnibus was seen as an opportunity to address that.” The ban covers not only dedicated nudifier apps but also general-purpose AI models like Elon Musk’s Grok, which was found to be creating approximately 6,700 sexualised images per hour in early 2026, dozens involving children. The European Commission launched a formal investigation into Grok under digital safety laws, leading X to implement restrictions in some countries.
“There are certain practices that are not jokes. It's about people. And in this battle, dignity should always be on the winning side,” said Lagodinsky. The ban is part of a broader EU effort to regulate AI based on risk, as outlined in the AI Act. The co-legislators still need to formally approve their position, but the signal is clear: nudifier apps are predatory technologies that violate fundamental privacy rights and bodily autonomy.
