After illicit deepfake photographs of Taylor Swift surfaced online, US politicians are pushing for new legislation to regulate the creation of such content. “We need to establish safeguards to combat this alarming trend,” said Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr. There are no federal laws presently prohibiting the formation or circulation of deepfakes in the US, though some states have made strides to create legislation in order to tackle the issue. Democratic Rep Yvette D Clarke said that women have been targets of deepfakes without their consent “for years,” thus further regulations must be implemented in order to avoid such scenarios in the future.
AI, a technology for producing deepfakes, manipulates the faces and bodies of individuals to produce realistic images of them. These have recently appeared on sites such as X/Twitter and Telegram and were seen by millions. One particular photo was viewed over 47 million times before it was eventually removed by X/Twitter. The website has issued a statement saying it is “actively removing” such images and has vowed to take appropriate actions against the corresponding accounts.
Pornography constitutes a majority of the deepfakes posted online and women are vastly predominant in cases of deepfake porn. According to a report named The State of Deepfakes, published last year, 99% of those targeted in such content are women. US Representative Joe Morelle called the distribution of the deepfake images upsetting and emphasized the urgent need for action; he has been linked to the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act that would make it unlawful to disseminate deepfake photos without consent.
Swift has not yet commented on the explicit deepfakes but sources indicate that she may pursue legal action against the site responsible for publishing the AI-generated photos. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, spoke out against the issue: “I don’t think anyone would want an online world that is completely not safe for content creators as well as content consumers.” He emphasized the urgency of having stricter laws and wider action taken to prevent the distribution of such harmful, non-consented material. Earlier this month, a man was arrested and charged with harassment and stalking near Swift’s home in New York
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