@ARTICLE{10.21494/ISTE.OP.2026.1406, 

TITLE={International cultural law to the test of synthetic media}, 
  
AUTHOR={William LETRÔNE, }, 
	
JOURNAL={Open Journal in Information Systems Engineering}, 
	
VOLUME={6}, 

NUMBER={Special Issue}, 
	
YEAR={2026}, 

URL={https://openscience.fr/International-cultural-law-to-the-test-of-synthetic-media}, 
	
DOI={10.21494/ISTE.OP.2026.1406}, 
	
ISSN={2634-1468}, 
	
ABSTRACT={Synthetic media produced by generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools are flooding the Web, causing risks of cultural harm that should be addressed. Yet, the question of cultural harm resulting from the dissemination of synthetic media has only been partially addressed in the legal literature. This article aims to fill this gap, by exploring the legal implications of culturally harmful synthetic media. To that end, this article analyzes the key concept of cultural harm and the role played by cultural rights and the principle of cultural diversity in its characterization. The ways in which synthetic media can cause cultural harm and the potential legal consequences are then discussed. It will be shown that, while international law provides mechanisms for preventing cultural harm, there are few means to really take into account the specificities of culturally harmful synthetic media.}}