Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 2210
Introduced by Representative Ryan S. Recto 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
With the recent emergence of artiﬁcial intelligence (AI), where it has become 
relatively easier for individuals to clone voices, manipulate images and create realistic 
deepfakes, the question on who gets to control our digital likeness has never been 
more urgent. This technological advancement has deﬁnitely blurred the lines between 
reality and fabrication, with most of us falling victim to it. Not only that, but it has made 
serious ramiﬁcations in terms of threats to individual privacy, reputation and public 
trust. The ability to generate such images depicting individuals without their consent 
opens new doors to harassment, defamation, fraud and misinformation.  
Most recently in Denmark, a new law is being proposed wherein each individual 
is granted automatic rights to their likeness. If a situation wherein their face or voice 
is used without their consent, they may demand for its removal and even seek 
compensation. This bold move was made in order to address the signiﬁcant gap in 
existing intellectual property frameworks, as current copyright laws were not designed 
to cover the complexities introduced by AI and deepfakes. 
This piece of legislation seeks to emulate the same. The proposed measure 
shall grant every individual the exclusive and personal right to control the commercial 
exploitation and public dissemination of their own image, voice and likeness, including 
any realistic digital imitation or deepfake. This right is explicitly treated as an 
intellectual property right, subsisting irrespective of whether the individual's likeness 
July 23, 2025
8:50 am


appears in a copyrighted work, thereby providing a robust legal foundation for 
personal digital identity. 
In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought.    
 Ryan S. Recto 
    Representative 
          6th District, Batangas 


1 
Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
Introduced by Representative Ryan S. Recto 
AN ACT 
PROTECTING THE HUMAN IDENTITY BY CONFERRING ECONOMIC RIGHTS OVER 
THEIR OWN IMAGE, VOICE AND LIKENESS, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR 
VIOLATIONS THEREOF 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
Section 1. Short Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Human Identity 
1 
Copyright Act”. 
2 
3 
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is hereby declared the policy of the State to 
4 
uphold the rights of its citizens in the protection of their dignity, privacy and personal 
5 
identity. The State recognizes the capability of Artiﬁcial Intelligence (AI) to create 
6 
realistic digital imitations of an individual’s image, voice and likeness, that if misused, 
7 
could easily be utilized as means to spread misinformation, defamation, fraud, identity 
8 
theft, emotional stress and other forms of harm. This Act aims to balance the 
9 
protection of individual rights with the promotion of technological innovation and 
10 
freedom of expression. Toward this end, the State shall implement measures to 
11 
achieve the following objectives: 
12 
13 
a) Enable individuals to demand the removal of AI-generated content using
14 
their likeness without consent;
15 
16 
2210


 
 
2 
b) Provide a legal basis for individuals to seek just compensation if harmed by 
1 
unauthorized AI-generated or manipulated content; and 
2 
 
3 
c) Establish clear responsibilities and accountability for online platforms 
4 
hosting deepfakes and other AI-generated content that violate this Act. 
5 
 
6 
Sec. 3. Deﬁnition of Terms. – As used in this Act, the following terms shall be 
7 
deﬁned as follows:  
8 
 
9 
a)  Artiﬁcial Intelligence or AI refers to the computerized methods and tools, 
10 
including but not limited to, machine learning and natural language 
11 
processing, that act in a way that resembles human cognitive abilities when 
12 
it comes to solving problems or performing certain tasks; 
13 
 
14 
b) Consent refers to the aﬃrmative, conscious and voluntary authorization 
15 
made by an individual free from force, fraud, duress, misrepresentation or 
16 
coercion;  
17 
 
18 
c) Copyright, notwithstanding the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code 
19 
of the Philippines, as amended, refers to the exclusive economic rights of 
20 
identiﬁable individuals over their own image, voice and likeness;   
21 
 
22 
d) Deepfake refers to any video recording, motion-picture ﬁlm, sound recording, 
23 
electronic image, or photograph, or any technological representation of 
24 
speech or conduct substantially derivative thereof: 
25 
 
26 
1) which appears to authentically depict any speech or conduct of a 
27 
person who did not in fact engage in such speech or conduct; and 
28 
 
29 


 
 
3 
2) the production of which was substantially dependent upon technical 
1 
means, rather than the ability of another person to physically or 
2 
verbally impersonate such person. 
3 
e) Digital Forgery refers to any intimate visual depiction of identiﬁable 
4 
individual created through the use of software, machine-learning, artiﬁcial 
5 
intelligence or any other computer-generated or technological means, 
6 
including by adapting, modifying, manipulating or altering an authentic 
7 
visual depiction, that, when viewed as a whole by a reasonable person, is 
8 
indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction of the individual; 
9 
 
10 
f) Generative AI System refers to the system, tool or platform that uses 
11 
artiﬁcial intelligence to generate or substantially modify video, audio or print 
12 
text content; 
13 
 
14 
g) Identiﬁable Individual refers to the following: 
15 
 
16 
1) Who appears in whole or in part in an intimate visual depiction; and 
17 
 
18 
2) Whose face, likeness or other distinguishing characteristic (including 
19 
a unique birthmark or other recognizable feature) is displayed in 
20 
connection with such intimate depiction; 
21 
 
22 
h) Likeness refers to an individual's image, name, voice or other distinctive 
23 
features that is uniquely identiﬁed with the individual; 
24 
 
25 
i) Online Platform refers to any digital service which allows its users to upload, 
26 
share or disseminate content to the public, including social media networks, 
27 
video-sharing platforms, and content hosting services; and 
28 
 
29 
j) Voice refers to the unique vocal characteristics, timbre and speech patterns 
30 
or mannerisms of an individual. 
31 
 
32 
Sec. 4. Nature and Scope of the Individual’s Copyright or Economic Rights Over 
33 
Image, Likeness and Voice. – Every individual shall possess an exclusive and personal 
34 


 
 
4 
right to control the commercial exploitation and public dissemination of their own 
1 
image, voice and likeness, including any realistic digital imitation or deepfake thereof. 
2 
Notwithstanding the provisions of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, as 
3 
amended, this right shall be treated as an intellectual property right and shall subsist 
4 
irrespective of whether the individual's image, voice, or likeness appears in a 
5 
copyrighted work. 
6 
 
7 
Sec. 5. Prohibited Acts. – The following acts shall be considered unlawful: 
8 
 
9 
a) Generating, creating or disseminating a deepfake of an individual’s image, 
10 
voice or likeness for commercial use, or through a manner that implies 
11 
endorsement of a product or service, without the explicit and informed 
12 
consent of the individual concerned; 
13 
 
14 
b) Generating, creating or disseminating a deepfake of an individual’s image, 
15 
voice or likeness regardless of commercial intent, if the material is intended 
16 
to harm or cause harm, including, but not limited to, psychological, ﬁnancial 
17 
or reputational harm, as well as to spread misinformation or disinformation 
18 
to the identiﬁable individual; 
19 
 
20 
c) Committing digital forgery: Provided, That the intimate visual depiction was 
21 
obtained or created under circumstances in which the person knew or 
22 
reasonably should have known that the identiﬁable individual had a 
23 
reasonable expectation of privacy; and 
24 
 
25 
d) Failure on the part of the online platform to prevent or remove a deepfake 
26 
of any identiﬁable individual within forty-eight (48) hours from notice. 
27 
 
28 
Sec. 6. Penalties. - Any person found guilty of the punishable acts under Section 
29 
5(a), (b) and (c) of this Act shall be punished with imprisonment of prision mayor or a 
30 


 
 
5 
ﬁne of not less than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) but not more than 
1 
One million pesos (P1,000,000.00), or both. 
2 
 
3 
Any person found guilty of the punishable act under Section 5(d) of this Act 
4 
shall be punished with imprisonment of prision correccional or a ﬁne of not less than 
5 
Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) but not more than Five hundred thousand 
6 
pesos (P500,000.00), or both. 
7 
 
8 
Any identiﬁable individual who suffered injury by reason of or on the occasion 
9 
of the commission of the acts punishable under Section 5 of this Act shall be entitled 
10 
to the award of damages under the Civil Code of the Philippines. 
11 
 
12 
When any of the acts punishable under Section 5 of this Act is committed by a 
13 
juridical person, the penalty of imprisonment herein provided shall be imposed upon 
14 
the president, manager, representative, director, oﬃcer, agent or employee who directly 
15 
violated or caused, directed, cooperated or participated in the violation thereof. 
16 
 
17 
Sec. 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). – Within ninety (90) days from 
18 
the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of 
19 
Information and Communications Technology (DICT), shall promulgate the necessary 
20 
rules and regulations for its effective implementation. 
21 
 
22 
Sec. 8. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is declared 
23 
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act or any provision not affected thereby, shall 
24 
remain in full force and effect. 
25 
 
26 
Sec. 9.  Repealing Clause. – All laws, acts, decrees, executive orders, issuances, 
27 
and rules and regulations or parts thereof which are contrary to and inconsistent with 
28 
this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modiﬁed accordingly. 
29 
 
30 


 
 
6 
Sec. 10. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect ﬁfteen (15) days after its 
1 
complete publication in the Oﬃcial Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general 
2 
circulation. 
3 
 
4 
Approved,