right to one's likeness

in English: right to one's own image (personality rights); USA: right of publicity / likeness rights

basicwidespread

It is your right to decide who can take your photo or recording and who can use your face or voice – even with artificial intelligence.

In plain terms

Your face and voice are like your house key: just because many people see them with you, it does not mean anyone can use them. The right to one's image states that making a recording of you and using it is generally only possible with your consent.

Artificial intelligence has made this a hot topic again. Today, even from a single photo or a few seconds of audio recording, a video and voice can be created in which you say or do something you never did. This is deepfake, or voice cloning.

Two traditions coexist. In Europe and Hungary, this is a personality right: it protects your human dignity and belongs to everyone. In the United States, the 'right of publicity' is more of a property right: it protects the fact that you earn money from the commercial value of your name and likeness, not others.

How it works

The main rule is consent: under the Hungarian Civil Code, the consent of the person concerned is required for both taking and using a portrait or recording.
There are exceptions: consent is not required for crowd recordings or for recordings of public appearances in public life.
The consent is purpose-bound: agreeing to a corporate group photo does not mean an advertisement or AI avatar can be created from your face.
In case of infringement, you can demand removal of the recording, cessation of the infringement, and claim compensation or damages in court.
The same rules apply to AI-generated likenesses. In addition, the EU AI Act has required since August 2, 2026, that anyone publishing a deepfake must indicate that the content was artificially created. Labeling does not replace consent.

An everyday example

On social media, you encounter an advertisement where a well-known Hungarian doctor or TV host recommends a 'miracle cure' or investment. The person never said such a thing: their face and voice were forged with AI, violating their right to their own image. The same right protects you if someone creates a fake video from your profile picture.

Who is affected

everyoneFake recordings can be made from any photo or voice uploaded to the internet, and the law protects not only celebrities.

marketerIn advertising, on AI-generated images or videos, you may use a real person's face or voice only with explicit, purpose-specific consent. → Marketing

employeeYour employer generally cannot post your photo on their website or create a digital avatar of you without your consent. → Work & HR

developerIf you build a system or agent that generates images, audio, or video, it is also your responsibility to ensure it does not produce likenesses of real people without permission. In the EU, you must also ensure that generated content carries machine-readable labeling. → Code

A common misconception

MythAnything publicly available online about me or others can be freely used by anyone, including for AI.

In realityThe availability of an image does not imply consent for further use. A deepfake or advertisement created from a public photo can be equally illegal.

Limits and risks

Laws vary greatly by country: in the United States, for example, rules differ by state, making it difficult to take action against a foreign violator.
Legal enforcement is slow, while a fake video spreads in hours; requesting a takedown from the platform is often faster than a lawsuit.
Public figures enjoy narrower protection, and parody, news reporting, or artistic processing may be permitted within certain limits.
It is debated how long protection lasts after death and who can decide on a deceased person's digital "resurrection".

Similar, but not the same

copyright – Copyright protects the creation (for example, the photograph) and belongs to the photographer, while the right to one's image belongs to the person depicted.
data protection (GDPR) – Your face and voice are also personal data, so both sets of rules can apply at the same time. The GDPR sets the rules for data processing, and for violations you can turn to the data protection authority (NAIH). The right to one's own image is a civil-law personality right that you can enforce in court against anyone.
deepfake – Deepfake is the technology and the false content itself, while the right to one's likeness is the legal tool you can use against it.

Related concepts

Broader

personality rights, privacy protection, AI regulation

Narrower

right to audio recording, digital likeness, posthumous protection of likeness

On the edge

deepfake, voice cloning, synthetic media, data protection, copyright

A brief history

The idea of legal protection for privacy was launched by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis in their 1890 study titled "The Right to Privacy". The term "right of publicity" was first used by an American court in 1953 in the Haelan Laboratories v. Topps Chewing Gum case. In Hungary, likeness was already protected by the previous Civil Code; the current rule is contained in the Civil Code adopted in 2013 and entered into force on 15 March 2014.

Where things stand

The right itself has long existed, but generative AI is prompting its supplementation and rewriting worldwide. In 2024, the state of Tennessee passed a dedicated law (the ELVIS Act) protecting voices from AI cloning. In the United States, a 2025 federal law (the TAKE IT DOWN Act) required the rapid removal of intimate images published without consent, including deepfakes. Since August 2026, labeling deepfakes has been mandatory in the EU. There is still no uniform international rule.

Status: 2026 November

In the news

Appears in 3 Agent Age stories; the curve shows weekly occurrence in the news magazine.

Delhi High Court orders removal of deepfake videos and protects personality rightsNov 2, 2026 · Jog
Personality rights and deepfakes: creators' protection, an Indian actor and a Hungarian performer take actionOct 26, 2026 · Jog
Delhi High Court protects Kangana Ranaut's personality rights against AI deepfakesOct 12, 2026 · Jog

Also known as

right to one's likeness · right to one's likeness and voice recordings · likeness protection · personality rights · right of publicity · personality rights · likeness rights · name, image and likeness (NIL)

Sources

This entry was machine-edited and has undergone machine expert review; the “In the news” section updates automatically from Agent Age stories.