SENATOR ALISON COMYN has said fake sexual imagery abuse is “not new” and described how police laughed at her when she attempted to report it in the mid-90s.

Speaking to the Oireachtas Media Committee today, the Fianna Fáil senator said that fake sexual images were made of her around 30-years-ago when she was working as a news anchor with the BBC.

“Some bright spark cut photographs of my face out of magazines, and put them on pornographic images, sent them to my workplace, and I found it deeply upsetting and violating,” she said.

“The police thought it was quite funny at the time and didn’t take it seriously,” she added.

She said the difference between that and AI sexual imagery is that the internet creates the opportunity for the fake images to be “seen by millions”.

She said children and vulnerable people are the most at risk from this type of abuse. “We have to stop that in its tracks,” she added.

However she feels enforcement is still not up to par.

“As a female public representative I am open to gross abuse on a daily basis, and I’m talking about threats of violence and sexual violence, and I’ve reported them all, and 99% of them are not upheld,” she added.

She said she’s “horrified” at the lack of verification and regulation of content shared by online platforms.

“What we have is we have a legitimate business, a high profile platform, who can legally offer this service, and it is disseminated to millions, global, wide, and we’re looking at it being created by seconds and sent out at the touch of the button,” she said.

She added that media outlets are “robustly fined” for wrong information, but said online platforms aren’t held to the same standard. 

The former journalist asked the Media Committee how it can be assisted with prosecution of “the degenerates who are using these AI tools, and those who are using the platforms and hiding behind anonymity”.