U.S. Seizes Domains That Hosted Thousands of Nonconsensual Deepfake Nudes
Law enforcement used the TAKE IT DOWN Act to halt the sites and move criminal cases forward against operators who profited from abusive AI content.
Overview
- Federal agents obtained warrants and on June 12 redirected the domains CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com to law enforcement notices after finding probable cause they published digitally forged sexual images and videos without consent.
- French investigators executed a parallel probe that led to the June 10 arrest of a 47‑year‑old man in Nice, Cyrille B., and the seizure of computer equipment plus about $48,000 in Ethereum linked to site advertising.
- French authorities say the operation involved roughly 300,000 images and 7,000 videos showing about 14,000 people, roughly 200,000 user accounts and about 4 million monthly views, illustrating a large, monetized network.
- Prosecutors used the TAKE IT DOWN Act because the sites categorized abusive content with tags like “rape,” “forced,” and “degradation” and the law lets courts seize domain names and other assets used to commit those crimes.
- Investigations and cross‑border forensic work are continuing, the arrested suspect is scheduled to stand trial on July 7, and officials warn this case shows how deepfake operators use international hosting and cryptocurrency to evade detection.