Adelaide graduate avoids prison after creating non-consensual deepfake porn

William Hamish Yeates, who attended the $20,000-a-year Mercedes College in Adelaide, became the first South Australian convicted under new federal deep-fake legislation after a five-month campaign of AI-generated sexual abuse targeting a 17-year-old girl he knew. He posted the fabricated images on X and the porn site Ero Me, seeking approval from an online community steeped in misogyny and influenced by Andrew Tate. Yeates pleaded guilty to two counts each of harassing use of a carriage service and creating sexual material without consent.

Judge Anne Barnett delivered a suspended two-year-three-month sentence, noting the victim’s humiliation and Yeates’s demonstrated remorse and growing understanding of his actions. The judge emphasized that his conduct was shaped by long-standing exposure to degrading online content rather than deliberate malice. Yeates read an apology letter in court, describing his behaviour as “grotesque,” before leaving without answering media questions.