In late January, AI-generated sexually explicit images of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift went viral on social media platforms including X (formerly known as Twitter) and Telegram. 

Deepfake technology—a portmanteau of “deep learning” and “fake”—has been available since at least 2017. It is a type of artificial intelligence that manipulates photos, videos, or audios of people to create convincing content depicting people saying or doing things they haven’t. 

Due to the surplus of footage and images available online, celebrities are frequent and easy victims for deepfake creators. Last year, an AI-generated version of American actress Scarlett Johansson gained immense popularity after it was used for an online promotion of a firm called Lisa AI without her consent. Similarly, an advertiser used a deepfake of American actor Tom Hanks without his consent to promote dental plans.

Recently, however, deepfakes aren’t just being used to promote fake news and commit identity fraud. People are using deepfakes to go as far as generating then publicizing pornographic content. The worst part? Deepfakes don’t just affect celebrities like Taylor Swift—people with enough social status and influence to have the resources to easily regain privacy protection—but they’re used to create nonconsensual sexually explicit material of young girls too. 

In November 2023, a high school student in Washington, used AI to create pornographic photos of his female classmates and circulated them around school. A similar occurrence took place a month later across the country in New Jersey, where sexually explicit fake photos of several girls were also sent around school without consent. 

According to the Princeton Legal Journal, “since this technology has become more widely available, 90-95% of deepfake videos are now nonconsensual pornographic videos and, of those videos, 90% target women—mostly underage." 

The easiest way for deepfake creators to give the technology the substance it needs to create fake sexually explicit material is through social media. Finding photos and videos of people online, particularly on social media, gives deepfake technology enough material to learn and create whatever content it is told to. Additionally, social media platforms give pornographic content the traction it needs to become popular. 

In an age of digital media, it’s nearly impossible to hide from the internet. Having an online presence is important for networking and building a career but what’s the point if it means people can create nonconsensual violating content of whoever they wish to target? 

Such deepfakes are a sheer attack on privacy. People using this technology steal women’s identities, morph their faces on pornographic content for “revenge porn”, give them an identity they didn’t consent to, and immediately circulate them around the internet for the world to see. 

Deepfakes are easy to create but difficult to detect. Worse, the best deepfakes are usually shrouded by sophisticated technology that make it incredibly difficult to discern fact from fiction. We’re so used to the concept of “seeing is believing,” but with the growing popularity of deepfakes, we can't be certain of what we see online—especially content aimed at degrading women, as they are the ones most affected by this new technology.

According to a report by the University of East London, the UK Council for Internet Safety and the London School of Economics, women who have been targets of fake pornographic content struggle to find employment for much of their careers. Very rarely do employers put in the effort to understand the reality of the situation, leading to dehumanizing accusations against women, and instead falling prey to demoralizing double standards in society. 

Those who claim women should “just be more careful on social media,” clearly don’t understand how foundational this issue is. Blaming the victim for having an online presence holds no real merit in a digital world. Instead of blaming the victim, people need to address the aggressors in situations like these. Deepfake creators who publicize revenge porn derive joy from ruining women’s lives by publicly spreading degrading and violating disinformation online.

Despite the alarming amount of nonconsensual deepfake porn available online, there is no federal law protecting victims of false AI-generated content. As of now, only five states, including California, have enacted laws to protect individuals from malicious deepfake content, with several states slowly following suit. 

Hiding from the internet is nearly impossible. Knowing people have the ability to manipulate everything available about me online for their own advantage is a terrifying reality I, along with other girls constantly live with. As technology rapidly reaches new heights, the federal government has to prioritize protecting people’s privacy rights—especially after considering the horrifying things deepfake technology is capable of creating.