#MYIMAGEMYCHOICE

Deepfake abuse is a form of image-based sexual violence, where somebody’s image is inserted into sexually explicit content without their consent. It includes videos where one person’s face is placed on the body of a porn performer without consent, real images digitally altered so that the body is stripped of all clothing, or images generated by AI that resemble the victim depicted in sexually explicit scenarios. 

Language matters: we use the term ‘deepfake sexual abuse’ or ‘deepfake abuse’ rather than deepfake porn and image-based sexual violence rather than ‘revenge porn’. It is not pornography, these are tech-enabled online types of sexual abuse.

It’s when someone takes, creates or shares intimate images of another person without their consent, or threatens to do so. Content can include imagery that is sexual, nude, or suggestive, including:

• Sharing nude images (so-called ‘revenge porn’)
• Creating or sharing fake porn imagery like deepfake videos
• Spycam footage
• Videos of sexual assaults or rapes
• Threats to share (often for coercion)

In surveys, in the US, 1 in 12 U.S. adults reported that they have been victims of image-based abuse, but real rates could actually be a lot higher. The victims are overwhelmingly women (95%). The perpetrators are mostly men (76%). It’s not just the creators, but those who consume this content that give rise to this abuse.

In 2023, more deepfake abuse videos were shared than the total number from every other year in history. On the top 40 sites dedicated to deepfake abuse there are now over 270 thousand videos, gaining over 4 billion views. This is a 3000% increase from 2019.

In 2023 there was a new and very concerning development: the growth of “nudify” apps – apps that seemingly strip clothes of pictures, or generate imagery that portrays someone in an explicit context. These apps have massively lowered the barrier to entry – now anyone can make deepfake abuse material on their smartphone.

Again the rate of increase has been vast: in Jan 2023 there were a handful of these apps. There are now over 290. 80% launched in the past 12 months. One, Undress.ai, processed 600,000 photos of regular women in the first 21 days after it launched.

Nudify apps have resulted in the most targeted group in terms of numbers of victims is no longer female celebrities but ordinary women.

In most places across the globe, including most states in the USA, there are no laws preventing people from creating and sharing deepfake abuse material.

There are some movements to change this. The UK passed the Online Safety Act in October 2023, which made the sharing of deepfake abuse an offense and began the process of requiring tech platforms to take more accountability for the hosting and distribution of deepfake abuse material. In April 2024 the UK Parliament announced its proposal for a new law to criminalize the creation of deepfake abuse, regardless of the intent to distribute the material. As a result of this announcement, the largest and most notorious deepfake abuse website MrDeepfakes.com blocked access to users across the UK.

In the US, senators have introduced a new bill, the DEFIANCE Act of 2024, creating a federal civil right of action for survivors to seek justice against perpetrators who create, distribute, or solicit deepfake abuse material. In May 2024, the White House issued a Call to Action urging the tech industry to take steps to combat deepfake abuse. However, US representatives have yet to introduce federal legislation that holds accountable creators and distributors of deepfake abuse, or which holds companies to account for their role in facilitating the distribution of this content.

We cannot wait around for governments to tackle this, we need to send a clear message that this is not OK.

94% of deepfake abuse is hosted on sites dedicated to this practice – dedicated solely to violating consent. The biggest site, MrDeepFakes.com, gets 13.4 million hits a month. What we have seen over the past few years is deepfaking go from a fringe community of individuals on 4chan or Reddit into a mainstream industry that has been emboldened by a total lack of accountability. This industry has got organized: creators are making serious money, some over 20k a month, some are hiring assistants to help with the volume of commissions. 

The tech sector in particular bears huge responsibility for the way that this practice has been popularized. Our research indicates that Google Search drives 68% of all web traffic to deepfake sites, and drives traffic to sites, how-to-tutorials, apps even when users are not looking for this material. 

This can have devastating and even life-threatening impacts. It can lead to serious mental health challenges and ‘social rupture’ such as stigmatization and isolation. This can be ‘life-shattering’.  Helen, a 34 year old teacher, started experiencing panic attacks after her abuse: “Every time I left the house, I got a sense of dread. Everyone I passed in the street, I just felt like they knew.” Chrissy, Youtuber, “It felt like the image was kind of like ammunition that could be used against me for the rest of my life. It just became very easy to think about how death would be much easier than living this hell.” 

The tragic reality is that several young women have taken their lives because of this. One, Basant, who was 17, wrote a letter to her mum starting with the line “Mom, believe me, the girl in those pictures is not me”

What’s also chilling is the way swathes of society – in particular women in the public eye like politicians, journalists, Youtubers, actors – have come to expect this abuse as part of the job. This creates the ‘silencing effect’. Victims modify their behavior, retreat from online spaces, and are shut out from full participation in public discourse – especially online. Most people don’t want to risk speaking out about their experiences because this might provoke retaliation, or drive more viewers to their intimate content. This is turning away generations of women from pursuing the career they want and discovering their full potential.

On top of this, victims deal with a culture of victim blaming. Police, moderators, bosses, lawmakers routinely downplay or dismiss victims’ experiences, or question the victims actions. Victims are scrutinized and judged for pictures they chose to take, clothes they chose to wear, the job they chose to do, the privacy settings they chose to assume, the job they chose to do. But the people who should be scrutinized are the ones breaching the victim’s consent.