Overview
- The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the seizure of 12 domains on Monday after obtaining a New York State Supreme Court seizure warrant and said investigations into site operators and uploaders are ongoing.
- Prosecutors said the seized sites hosted images and videos that depicted about 1,200 people, overwhelmingly women, in nonconsensual sexual content that used AI to place real faces into explicit material.
- Research by Benjamin Shultz found at least 138 women members of national parliaments across 22 EU countries appear or are listed on abusive deepfake sites, and Shultz estimates women MPs are about 33 times more likely than men to be targeted.
- The deepfake industry uses tools called nudifier apps, site-side creation tools, indexing pages and payment systems to produce and sell synthetic intimate imagery at scale, researchers say, which lets new sites reappear quickly after takedowns.
- Law enforcement and new laws such as the US Take It Down Act have increased removal powers, but experts warn cross-border regulation, investigation capacity, and disruption of the creation and payment infrastructure must improve to prevent repeat harm.