Harassment

Deepfakes first emerged on the internet in the form of non-consensual pornography at the end of 2017. Since then, an entire deepfake porn ecosystem has developed online.

It is an entirely gendered phenomenon with female celebrities becoming early targets (victims included Ariana Grande, Daisy Ridley, Emma Watson, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lawrence, Cara Delevigne, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Gal Gadot.) Deepfake porn victim, Kristen Bell, highlighted major concerns about consent - regardless of video watermarks and called for the internet to be more responsible.

Now ‘normal’ women and minors are being targeted in deepfake pornography too. Whilst abundant online, we refrain from bringing attention to any specific case studies of this malicious form of synthetic content.  

With a malicious intent to harm, there are calls for deepfake non-consensual porn and revenge porn to have criminal charges for those who create, share and publish these types of videos across the globe.

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Recommendations to criminalise revenge porn and cyber flashing have been suggested as means to crack down. In the US, it is illegal in the states of Virginia and California, whilst Scotland has made it illegal to distribute deepfake porn. They could also potentially be covered by a EU code of practice, whereby regulators can fine technology companies up to 6% of their global turnover if they don’t crack down on deepfakes.

Companies including Twitter, Reddit and PornHub have banned deepfake porn, but despite this, new videos continue to emerge and unflagged videos remain on Reddit and PornHub.

DISCLAIMER: To protect victims of deepfake pornography we won’t be including all cases. We will reference only a few to highlight the damage they can cause. We do not want to encourage people to use this technology with criminal intent. We believe consent is key.

A vicious smear campaign on Twitter to discredit an Indian journalist soon turned into a malicious deepfake porn attack.

Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub was no stranger to controversy, but when she became overtly critical of the ruling BJP party in India, an online campaign to discredit her culminated with her phone number being shared alongside a deepfake porn video of her.

The United Nations intervened asking the Indian Government to protect her, yet Ayyub said offered her any support with the matter. Speaking to international media she said the effects have stayed with her and that she feels there are thousands of eyes on her body. “From the day the video was published, I have not been the same person… I always thought no one could harm me or intimidate me, but this incident really affected me in a way that I would never have anticipated.”

Who created the deepfake?

Unknown

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing

DISCLAIMER: To protect victims of deepfake pornography we won’t be including all cases. We will reference only a few to highlight the damage they can cause. We do not want to encourage people to use this technology with criminal intent. We believe consent is key.

An American mother allegedly created ‘deepfake videos’ of her teen daughter's cheerleading rivals depicting them naked, drinking and smoking in a bid to get them kicked off the cheerleading squad.  

Raffaela Spone was accused of using social media accounts of the teens to generate ‘deepfake’ videos. Whilst Spone was initially charged, digital forensics experts determined the clip in question is unlikely a deepfake. The officers involved with charging Spone allegedly did not use metadata analysis to detect the authenticity of the clip.

This is an example of ‘The Liar’s Dividend,’ a phenomenon where an authentic video is dismissed as a deepfake. Unable to prove that the video was a deepfake, all charges against Spone have since been dropped.

Manipulated videos claiming to show Jenna Fischer’s sex tape have been spread on social media.

The face of Pam Beasley from The Office, was superimposed onto the body of someone else from an adult film.

With a malicious intent to harm, there are calls for deepfake non-consensual porn and revenge porn to have criminal charges for those who create, share and publish these types of videos across the globe.

Who created the deepfake?

CelebJihad

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Open-Source Code
Video Editing

A deepfake non-consensual pornographic video has gone viral featuring Gal Gadot having sex with her stepbrother.

An AI algorithm and open-source code was used to paste the face of the Wonder Woman star onto an incest-themed porn video. Upon first glance, the video could fool anyone who sees it but after further inspection, the face tracking is off and there's an uncanny valley effect. With easily accessible materials and ab open-source code -anyone with an interest in programming and deepfakes could recreate this with the face of their choice.

With a malicious intent to harm, there are calls for deepfake non-consensual porn and revenge porn to have criminal charges for those who create, share and publish these types of videos across the globe.

Who created the deepfake?

Unknown

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

AI Algorithm  
Open-Source Code
Deepfake Software
Video Editing

DISCLAIMER: To protect victims of deepfake pornography we won’t be including all cases. We will reference only a few to highlight the damage they can cause. We do not want to encourage people to use this technology with criminal intent. We believe consent is key.

A man has been arrested for using artificial technology to unblur and sell pornographic content - the first criminal case in Japan involving the exploitative use of the powerful technology.

Instead of face swapping, website owner, Masayuki Nakamoto, applied machine learning software to reconstruct the blurred parts of the video.

An obscenity law forbids the explicit depictions of genitalia in Japan. Nakamoto reportedly made more than $80,000 by selling over 10,000 manipulated videos.

Who created the deepfake?

Masayuki Nakamoto

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Machine Learning Software
Video Editing

DISCLAIMER: To protect victims of deepfake pornography we won’t be including all cases. We will reference only a few to highlight the damage they can cause. We do not want to encourage people to use this technology with criminal intent. We believe consent is key.

An AI-generated video on the internet has transformed Halle Bailey into a white woman for The Little Mermaid.

Shortly after the trailer for the Disney film was released, a Twitter user claimed the clip had been “fixed” by transforming the black actress into a white person using AI software.

One user acknowledged artificial Intelligence scientist @TenGazillionIQ for ‘fixing’ The Little Mermaid, and turning the 'woke actor into a ginger white girl’. He also boasted that the whole movie could be ‘fixed’ with 4x A6000 in 24 hours. This came alongside claims it was ‘purely for educational purposes’ and not to be misinterpreted in a racist way. But the wider public strongly disagreed. 

Twitter has since removed the tweet from social media after it caused outrage online with one person commenting "so you prefer the CGI uncanny valley. I prefer the woman with talent."

Who created the deepfake?

TenGazillionIQ

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Artificial Intelligence
Deepfake Software

A user-friendly application has resulted in an explosion of convincing face-swap porn.

The website, easy to navigate and very simple to use, invites users to upload of a picture of any face with a tagline stating: "turn anyone into a porn star by using deepfake technology to swap the person’s face into an adult video. All it requires is the picture and the push of a button."

To not draw any attention to the service, their creators or potential open source deepfake technology available in relation to this site we will not mention the name. As the technology advances with little to no regulations in place to protect people, several other easy-to-use tools appeared enabling people to digitally undress women as one website promises to make “men’s dreams come true."

These services both referred to above have since been forced offline, but the code still exists in open-source repositories and has continued to resurface in new forms. With a malicious intent to harm, there are calls for deepfake non-consensual porn and revenge porn to have criminal charges for those who create, share and publish these types of videos across the globe.

DISCLAIMER: To protect victims of deepfake pornography we won’t be including all cases. We will reference only a few to highlight the damage they can cause. We do not want to encourage people to use this technology with criminal intent. We believe consent is key.