Taylor Swift’s AI Pictures Cause The Pop Star To Consider Legal Action
They were all over the internet in a matter of minutes and Taylor Swift‘s AI pictures are causing the pop star to consider legal action. On January 24, 2024, fake images of her in sexually explicit positions circulated X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram spread like wildfire.
A report from 404 Media found that the images may have originated in a group on Telegram, where users share explicit AI-generated images of women often made with Microsoft Designer. Certain social media platforms began to remove the content after being alerted to it. “This content violates our policies and we’re removing it from our platforms and taking action against accounts that posted it,” a Meta spokesperson told the Daily Mail, “We’re continuing to monitor and if we identify any additional violating content we’ll remove it and take appropriate action.”
The legalities are iffy, to say the least. While it’s not illegal to make or share sexually explicit deepfakes, Congress is working on that. In June 2023, a bill was introduced to make sharing non-consensual AI-generated pornography illegal.
“This bill aims to make sure there are both criminal penalties, as well as civil liability for anyone who posts, without someone’s consent, images of them appearing to be involved in pornography,” explained Congressman Joe Morelle who authored the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, per ABC News. In 2019, synthetic media expert Henry Ajder and his colleagues set out to map out the state of deepfakes online. Deepfake pornography makes up 96 percent of all deepfakes, and they almost exclusively target women. Here’s how Taylor Swift’s AI pictures have caused her to react.
Taylor Swift’s AI pictures
While the pop star hasn’t commented herself on Taylor Swift’s AI pictures, sources close to her say she’s “furious”. The Daily Mail spoke to someone close to Swift who said: “Whether or not legal action will be taken is being decided but there is one thing that is clear: these fake AI-generated images are abusive, offensive, exploitative, and done without Taylor’s consent and/or knowledge,” the insider said. “The Twitter account that posted them does not exist anymore. It is shocking that the social media platform even let them be up to begin with.”
They continued: “These images must be removed from everywhere they exist and should not be promoted by anyone. Taylor’s circle of family and friends are furious, as are her fans obviously. They have the right to be, and every woman should be. The door needs to be shut on this. Legislation needs to be passed to prevent this and laws must be enacted.”
The response from Swift’s fanbase was, well, swift, and in a sign that not everything on the internet is toxic, Swifties mobilized to swarm social media with the #ProtectTaylorSwift movement aimed at drowning out the explicit images. “Shame on those people who are sharing disgusting AI pictures of Taylor Swift. Those people should have a special place in Hell,” shared one fan. “Here’s an edit of Tay to cleanse the timeline from the taylor ai crap #protecttaylorswift,” wrote another. “it doesn’t matter how famous someone is, “she’s white billionaire, so she will be fine” doesn’t give u authority to create her disgusting AI pictures. Grow up!” another observed.
On January 16, 2024, Congressman Joe Morelle announced he has authored bipartisan legislation to stop the spread of deepfake pornography generated by artificial intelligence (AI); the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.
“Try to imagine the horror of receiving intimate images looking exactly like you—or your daughter, or your wife, or your sister—and you can’t prove it’s not,” Rep Morelle said. “Deepfake pornography is sexual exploitation, it’s abusive, and I’m astounded it is not already a federal crime. My legislation will finally make this dangerous practice illegal and hold perpetrators accountable. I’m grateful we have a generation of young women like Francesca ready to stand up against systemic oppression and stand in their power.”
The USA would follow in the footsteps of the UK, which made the sharing of such material illegal in 2023 via the Online Safety Act. “We are committed to tackling online abuse and violence against women and girls. The Online Safety Act will create four new offenses, including the criminalizing of sharing intimate images without consent, which also applies to so-called ‘deepfakes’,” a rep told Cosmopolitan UK.
“Social media platforms will [now] be subject to robust duties for illegal content and will be required to proactively tackle distressing crimes like so-called revenge pornography, harassment and controlling or coercive behavior, or face huge fines.”
Taylor Swift’s AI pictures come after her alleged stalker, David Crowe, was arrested outside her apartment—twice in three days. Prosecutors said during the hearing that Crowe had staked out Swift’s apartment 30 times over the past two months, per the New York Post.
“I just saw him digging through this dumpster, taking out some blankets and then he just went and sat down on the loading dock a few doors down [from Swift’s apartment],” a neighbor told the Post, adding they were “terrified” when they saw him again.
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