Following the circulation of sexual AI-generated photos of Taylor Swift, social networking site X has restricted searches for the artist. Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, told the BBC that the move was a “temporary action” brought about by a need to increase security.
An error message stating “Something went wrong” is displayed while trying to search for Swift on the website. Reloading may help. Earlier this week, the site included fake, graphic photos of the singer. Both US officials and the singer’s legion of admirers were alarmed when some of them went viral and received millions of views.
With the hashtag “protect Taylor Swift” plastered throughout the platform, her devoted followers took action, flagging posts and accounts that shared the inauthentic photos.
#PROTECT TAYLOR SWIFT pic.twitter.com/MVg1WKInLg
— Jody Eras Tour 7/1💛❤️💜💙🖤🫶🐍 (@goodbyemean) January 25, 2024
In response to the images, X (formerly Twitter) stated on Friday that the platform does not permit the uploading of non-consensual nudity. “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content,” the announcement stated. “Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them.”
When exactly X started censoring Swift searches, as well as whether or not they had done so for other famous people or topics in the past, is unknown. With “an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue,” Mr. Benarroch informed the BBC via email that this action is being taken.
According to Friday’s statement from the White House, the dissemination of the AI-generated photographs was deemed “alarming” once the matter arose. “We know that lax enforcement disproportionately impacts women, and they also impact girls, sadly, who are the overwhelming targets,” stated Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, during a briefing.
Additionally, she stated that platforms should take action to prohibit such content on their sites and that legislation should be introduced to address the exploitation of artificial intelligence technology on social media. “We believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people,” said Ms Jean-Pierre.
Legislators in the United States have also demanded new legislation to make it a crime to create deepfake images. A deepfake is a video of someone who uses AI to alter their appearance in some way. The advent of AI has fueled a 550% increase in the generation of altered photographs from 2019, according to a study conducted in 2023.
Despite efforts at the state level, no federal legislation has been passed to prohibit the sharing or generation of deepfake photographs. In 2023, the UK’s Online Safety Act made it unlawful to share deepfake pornography.
