Romanian Chamber adopts bill criminalising AI-generated child sexual abuse material

On Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies passed a proposal to revise the penal code, explicitly targeting sexual material involving minors that is produced with artificial intelligence or other realistic virtual means. The draft replaces the term "child pornography" with language emphasizing sexual abuse of children and sets prison sentences of five to twelve years for producers, three to ten years for promoters, two to seven years for distributors, and one to five years for unauthorized viewers.

Harsher penalties apply when the offender is a family member, caretaker or authority figure. The law also allows seizure of devices and earnings linked to the offences and creates a narrow exemption for private content exchanged between minors whose ages differ by no more than three years, provided no exploitation occurs.