New York officials seized 12 celebrity deepfake websites, impacting over 1,200 people, mostly women, in a major takedown of explicit deepfake content.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the seizure of 12 domains used for unlawfully sharing, publishing, and selling celebrity deepfake videos.
These sites featured nonconsensual sexual images and videos of over 1,200 people, including social media influencers, actors, activists, athletes, musicians, and politicians.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated that these violations of privacy have severe emotional and mental health impacts on victims. He urged potential victims to contact his office’s cybercrime bureau. The office is continuing its investigation into those responsible for the websites and the individuals who uploaded damaging videos of victims.
The seizures, carried out under New York’s criminal procedure laws, represent one of the most significant actions against explicit deepfake websites since the technology emerged in late 2017. As AI has advanced, a dark industry of websites, apps, and bots has appeared, designed to create graphic sexual content using deepfake technology.
"The takedowns are a significant win in the fight against synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII)," said Leonie Oehmig, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Oehmig noted that enforcement of state laws shows that harmful content can be tackled, and the seized sites are not accessible via VPNs.
The websites were likely viewed millions of times, with many using names like 'sex celebrity' or promising 'real deepfakes.' They hosted false videos of famous celebrities, including actresses, with one site stating, 'various actresses’ faces are used for deepfakes.'
"Most videos took the shape of actual pornographic movies, manipulated to instead show targets’ faces instead of the original actors," said Benjamin Shultz, lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project. Shultz noted that many videos appeared to be reposts from the MrDeepFakes website, which was taken offline after its creators were unmasked.
Source: wired
