I hate to appear to defend this, but generative AI has sort of collapsed the distinction between a photo and an image. I could generate an image from a photo which told the same story, then delete the photo, and now everything is peachy fine? So that could have been a motivation for "images".
Though I wonder if not existing frameworks around slander and libel could be made to address the brave new world of AI augmented abuse.
Libel is both incredibly expensive (£100k average per case, not eligible for legal aid) and unreliable (can be used to silence true information).