New York seizes 12 celebrity deepfake porn sites

New York authorities announced on Monday that they had seized 12 prominent websites hosting pornographic celebrity deepfakes involving politicians and actors.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the sites hosted AI-generated sexual images and videos that prosecutors said involved around 1,200 victims. He said the material used artificial intelligence to make it appear that real people were engaging in sexually explicit acts.

Bragg said he believed it was the largest seizure of websites focused on AI-generated illegal pornography.

He said a victim came forward to report one site, triggering the investigation. He did not confirm any arrests.

Bragg said New York law bars sharing real sexual images without consent and also bars sharing such material if it is created or altered by artificial intelligence tools.

The announcement comes amid an online boom in non-consensual deepfakes that authorities say has outpaced regulation because of widely available AI tools, including “nudification” apps.

In May, the United States began enforcing a law requiring tech platforms to remove sexual deepfakes and other non-consensual intimate imagery. President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act last year, criminalising online distribution of non-consensual sexual imagery often created using inexpensive AI tools.