Pornographic deepfake images of Taylor Swift circulated widely on the platform this week, despite Twitter/X’s rules against such content.
The non-consensual images, apparently created using artificial intelligence, showed the pop star in sexually suggestive and explicit situations.
US media reported that before the account sharing the images was suspended, some of the posts sharing the images garnered more than 27 million views and 260,000 likes in 19 hours.
- Microsoft to lay off 1900 employees in its gaming unit
- China Transitions to Global Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel
X’s policy is stated on its website as follows:
You may not share artificial, manipulated or decontextualized media (“misleading media”) that could deceive, confuse or harm people.
The offensive images and the time it took to remove them sparked outrage from Swift’s fans and others who expressed concern about the “violently misogynistic” nature of the images.
“This is a prime example of how AI is being unleashed for so many outrageous reasons without adequate safeguards to protect public space,” Ben Decker, who runs the digital research agency Memetica, told CNN.
“Social media companies don’t really have effective plans to police content properly,” Decker added.
The footage was also circulated on other social media platforms such as Reddit and Facebook.
A spokesperson from Facebook’s parent company Meta said:
This content violates our policies. We are taking action against accounts that remove and publish this content on our platforms.
We continue to monitor. If we find any other content that violates our policies, we will remove it and take appropriate action.
Citing a source close to Swift, the Daily Mail also reported that the artist, known for her song “Anti-Hero,” is considering legal action against the deepfake porn site hosting the images.
This year, TikTok announced that all deepfake or manipulated content showing realistic scenes must be labeled to indicate that they are fake or altered, and that deepfakes of non-celebrities and teenagers are no longer allowed.
In addition to Meta, adult sites such as OnlyFans and Pornhub have joined Take It Down, an online tool that allows people to report obscene images and videos online.
According to fraud detection firm Sensity AI, porn created using this technology accounts for more than 90 percent of the deepfakes currently circulating online.
An amendment to the Online Safety Act in October last year gave police and prosecutors more powers to hold perpetrators to account, and under the proposed measures, those spreading deepfakes could now face jail time.
The footage of Swift was shared in the same week that a man was arrested twice in three days after stalking the pop star near her New York home.
Seattle man David Crowe was arrested by police on two counts of harassment and two counts of stalking after neighbors and a security guard saw him near Swift’s home and raised the alarm.
