USA: Lawsuit against 16 deep nude websites

The city of San Francisco is trial The case has been filed against the operators of 16 websites that offer to undress people in images with the help of AI. The defendants are accused of violating US laws and California state laws that, among other things, prohibit revenge pornography and child pornography with products known as deep nude or deepfake pornography. The providers are also said to have violated laws against unfair competition.

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At first glance it is not clear why a law firm from a major US city is leading the lawsuit: most of the companies charged are based in Estonia, one in Serbia and others in Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Great Britain. As for the various providers, it is currently unclear who is behind it and where the operators are. David Chiu, San Francisco city attorney, stated in a press interviewThe victims of such services – at least the women and girls – were also in California and so his office had jurisdiction. Moreover, it is not uncommon for lawsuits that extend far beyond the city to be initiated in this city.

websites should be shut down

The defendant websites received more than 200 million visits in the first six months of this year alone. Users upload photos of clothed people and can “undress” them – usually for a fee. The lawsuit aims to shut down such services, punish operators with fines and permanently stop their actions through preventive measures. Such websites are a huge global problem and the victims are helpless.

The lawsuit cites cases of schools where photographs of girls were circulated through such websites. There are also known cases of blackmail attempts in which victims had to pay money to prevent their intimate photos from being published. In some cases, the perpetrators simply used images that could be accessed on social networks.

Efforts are already underway in other countries to take action against such providers. For example, Great Britain wants to criminalize the creation of such images followed by their distribution.

(MKI)