New York Seizes a Dozen Celebrity Deepfake Websites
Around 1,200 people—overwhelmingly women—were depicted in nonconsensual sexual images and videos on the websites, the office says. As artificial intelligence technology has improved, a dark industry of websites, apps, and bots has appeared: They are designed to “undress” photos of women or create graphic sexual videos that include them. While laws against deepfakes have been slow to emerge, the US Take It Down Act increasingly allows images to be removed, with part of the law allowing law enforcement officials to take down and seize websites.The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not publicly named the websites it has seized.
- ▪Around 1,200 people—overwhelmingly women—were depicted in nonconsensual sexual images and videos on the websites, the office says.
- ▪As artificial intelligence technology has improved, a dark industry of websites, apps, and bots has appeared: They are designed to “undress” photos of women or create graphic sexual videos that include them.
- ▪While laws against deepfakes have been slow to emerge, the US Take It Down Act increasingly allows images to be removed, with part of the law allowing law enforcement officials to take down and seize websites.The Manhattan District Attorney
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| Publication time | Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:50:00 +0000 |
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Matt BurgessSecuritySep 14, 2026 12:50 PMNew York Seizes a Dozen Celebrity Deepfake WebsitesIn the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized 12 sites that collectively targeted around 1,200 victims.Photo-Illustration: Jobanny Cabrera; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyFor the best part of a decade, abusive deepfake “pornography” websites have published thousands of nonconsensual videos depicting women, including high-profile celebrities, politicians, and public figures, into sexual situations.
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