The Image Belongs to You, Even If You Sell It: Deepfakes and the Right to One’s Own Image for Sex Workers in Switzerland (2026)
There’s a sentence that affected people keep hearing when they try to fight back against a fake nude image: „You show yourself anyway.“ The sentence is legally wrong – and yet it causes harm because it creates the impression that anyone who shows their own body professionally has somehow given up their right to their own image. The opposite is true. This very misconception makes sex workers and erotic creators the most at-risk and simultaneously the worst-protected group in 2026 when it comes to AI-generated fakes.
This text explains what the „right to one’s own image“ really is in Switzerland, why it belongs to you even though you sell images, where the law applies in 2026, where it fails miserably – and what you can concretely do if your face ends up on a deepfake that you never recorded.
A Right That Has No Paragraph of Its Own
The „right to one’s own image“ sounds like a single law, but it isn’t. It’s part of the general personality protection that the Swiss Civil Code regulates in Articles 28 et seq. ZGB. Your appearance, your identity, your voice, and your reputation are protected. Whoever depicts a person in an identifiable manner or imitates and publishes their appearance without their consent generally violates that person’s personality.
The word „imitates“ is crucial. A deepfake is not a real photo of you – and yet it depicts you. For personality protection, it makes no difference whether the pixels come from a camera or from an image model. What matters is whether you’re recognizable. If you are, Article 28 ZGB applies, and the source of the image data is secondary.
This leads to the core of this article: Your right to your own image is not divisible. You can release, sell, license individual images – and still retain control over everything you haven’t released. Consent to this set of photos is not consent to every image someone calculates from it. Whoever builds a pornographic deepfake from your public recordings cannot claim that you „obviously“ publish images anyway. Legally, that’s a new, unapproved image.
Why Exactly This Industry Is Exposed
Deepfakes need material. The more clear, well-lit shots of a face from various angles available online, the more convincing the fake. Anyone who is professionally visible – on escort profiles, cam platforms, social media, subscription sites – supplies exactly this training material free of charge. This isn’t negligence, it’s the job. But it means that the tools you use to build your reach are the same ones that make a fake realistic in the first place.
There’s a second problem: the fictional character that otherwise protects you only helps to a limited extent here. Many deliberately work under a stage name and separate the stage from private life. Whoever builds a brand, as we described in the path to your own brand, makes their face a recognition value – and thus a target. A deepfake can place this face in contexts that contradict your brand, your boundaries, and your safety. The fake doesn’t attack the fictional character, but the real person behind it.
And third: The perpetrators are rarely anonymous strangers from the other end of the world. Often they are disgruntled customers, an ex-partner, a competitor in the scene, or someone who wants to „punish“ you. Whoever creates a fake and deliberately spreads it usually does so with knowledge about you. That’s why this topic belongs in the same drawer as the question of who actually checks the customer: It’s a security issue, not a pure technical problem.
Where Swiss Law Applies in 2026 – and Where It Doesn’t
Here lies the uncomfortable truth. A separate criminal offense „deepfake pornography“ does not exist in Switzerland even in 2026. The Federal Council takes the position that existing law is fundamentally applicable. That’s true – but it largely refers those affected to the civil law route, and that is time-consuming and expensive.
What applies:
- Civil personality protection (Articles 28 et seq. ZGB). This is your strongest tool. You can sue for cessation (the thing must stop), removal (the image must go away), as well as damages and compensation. In cases of personality violations, you can take action against everyone involved – not just the creator, but potentially also distributors.
- Defamation offenses (Articles 173/174 StGB). Whoever depicts you identifiably on a pornographic deepfake and distributes it can be liable for defamation or slander, because the fake puts a disreputable claim about you into the world.
- Data protection. Your face is personal data, and deepfakes process it unlawfully. This opens up additional claims but does not replace personality protection.
- Child pornography – the legal situation is clear here. At the end of 2025, the Federal Court decided that pornographic content depicting digitally rejuvenated adults as „simulated minors“ falls under the prohibition of child pornography. Whoever creates a deepfake that makes you look younger can thus be entering legally very serious territory.
What doesn’t apply: There is no quick, low-barrier mechanism, like other countries have introduced. There is no legal obligation for platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images within a deadline. In the USA, the „Take It Down Act“ requires platforms to delete reported images within 48 hours. In Switzerland, this deadline does not exist – whether and when an image disappears depends on the platform’s goodwill. In international comparison, Swiss protection is considered inadequate.
Movement in 2026 – But No Law Yet
In 2026, the topic has finally arrived politically, triggered by a concrete scandal: At the beginning of the year, the AI bot Grok from company xAI generated massive amounts of sexualized deepfakes of arbitrary people – some of minors – and these images spread primarily via the X platform. In June 2026, the National Council adopted a motion by Green politician Raphaël Mahaim („Grok and sexualized deepfakes. Act now!“) and referred it to the Council of States. It demands that AI providers technically prevent the creation of sexualized deepfakes and calls for corresponding legislation plus a review body.
In parallel, Center National Council member Yvonne Bürgin is demanding that the creation of sexualized deepfakes be prosecuted criminally and victim protection be strengthened. The Federal Council, meanwhile – through Justice Minister Beat Jans – points to the planned ratification of the Council of Europe’s AI Convention and wants the concerns to flow into the associated consultation process. At EU level, a ban is taking shape for 2026, which serves as a reference point in the Swiss debate.
What does that mean for you concretely? Things are moving – but don’t rely on it in 2026. Until a law comes into force, the civil and criminal law tools mentioned above are what you have. And they only work if you use them correctly.
The Emergency Plan: What You Do If It Happens
If you discover that a deepfake of you is circulating, timing matters. Panic or immediately deleting your own account destroys evidence. Proceed systematically.
1. Secure Evidence Before You Do Anything Else
Take screenshots that show the full context: the image or video, the URL, the username of the uploader, date and time, comments, view count. Save links. If possible, have a trusted person document the page independently. This documentation will be the foundation for any report, complaint, or legal action later. Without it, you’re left empty-handed once the content disappears or gets moved.
2. Report to the Platform – Clear and Using the Right Words
Contact the platform directly and point out the unlawful publication. Use specialized reporting channels for „non-consensual intimate imagery“ or „synthetic/AI-generated nudity“ where available – these categories are processed faster than a general complaint. Be factual: non-consensual, AI-generated depiction of an identifiable person, requesting deletion. Set a deadline and document when you reported it and what the response was.
3. Get Advice – You Don’t Have to Carry This Alone
Victim assistance services in Switzerland offer free, confidential support. Specialized organizations like Netzcourage have experience with digital violence and image abuse and can help with reports, criminal complaints, and the psychological burden. Organizations like AlgorithmWatch CH also apply political pressure in this area. Important: These services are available to people in sex work too – your profession doesn’t change your right to protection.
4. Consider Legal Steps
With secured evidence, you can seek legal advice. Civil remedies include injunction, removal, and damages; for urgent cases, there are preventive measures to stop distribution quickly. Under criminal law, defamation or libel may apply, and in cases of „age reduction,“ even the child pornography offense. Clarify costs upfront – victim assistance and specialized organizations can point you toward services with reasonable or covered costs.
Prevention: Keep Control as Much as Possible
You can’t completely prevent a deepfake – material is out there on the internet, and that’s part of your business. But you can reduce the attack surface and shorten response time.
- Reverse image search and alerts. Regularly check where your face and images appear. The earlier you discover a fake, the better your chances of stopping it before it spreads.
- Watermarks and subtle markings. They won’t stop determined attackers, but they make reuse harder and help trace the origin of a misused image.
- Separation of layers. A clear boundary between your stage identity and private life makes it harder to link a fake with your real name, address, or surroundings – where the actual damage happens.
- Understand the context. When you recognize that your own image is both a source of income and a target for attack, you make better decisions about which images need to be public, where, and in what quality.
The Sentence That Stays
The right to one’s own image is stronger in Switzerland in 2026 than many believe – and harder to enforce than it should be. Strong because it belongs to you, no matter how much of yourself you professionally show; a fake is never „authorized“ by your work. Weak because there’s no quick delete button and the path through courts is long.
Until politics catch up, your best protection is preparation: secure evidence, know the reporting channels, have advice services in your contacts, and understand that „you expose yourself anyway“ has no legal standing. Your image belongs to you. Especially – and precisely – if you sell it.