Deepfake, a defined term and a headline word
Deepfake appears in transparency law as a defined category attached to a disclosure duty. Outside it the word covers anything synthetic and unwelcome, which makes quoting a clause about it unusually error-prone. As of 2026-09-12.
| Where the word appears | What it covers there |
|---|---|
| In a transparency instrument | A defined category, with a disclosure attached |
| In press coverage | Any synthetic depiction of a real person |
| In product marketing | Rarely used at all, for obvious reasons |
| In ordinary conversation | Synthetic media somebody objects to |
Inclusion rule. Contexts in which the word is used with a materially different scope. Order. From the narrowest usage to the widest.
1A defined term is narrower than its reputation
Where an instrument defines a category and attaches a duty to it, the definition governs. Material outside it is not covered by that duty, whatever anybody calls it.
Reading the duty without the definition is the commonest way this part of a transparency regime gets misreported, including by people summarising it accurately.
2The duty in question is a disclosure, not a prohibition
A transparency instrument asking for disclosure is not banning anything. It is asking that an audience be told, which is a much smaller intervention than headlines about the word usually suggest.
That distinction matters for anybody planning production. A disclosure obligation is a workflow and documentation question; a prohibition would be a commissioning question.
3Creative work is treated differently, and not exempted
Instruments in this area tend to narrow the duty for work that is evidently artistic or fictional rather than removing it. What survives is usually a requirement to reveal that generated content exists.
Which is a small requirement and still a requirement. A production that has removed every mark from its files has not thereby answered it, and nothing in a vendor page addresses it either.
4Why a register is better off not using the word
Because its scope depends entirely on where it appears, a cell containing it tells a reader almost nothing unless the definition travels with it. Quoting the clause is shorter than explaining the word.
Where a register has to use it, the useful form names the instrument and the paragraph. That converts a contested word into a citation, which is the only form anybody can check.
5Published material behind this entry
A term in this record: what it means, and what the published material says about it, each figure read on 2026-09-12. Related: Provider, Deployer.