Manhattan DA seizes 12 AI deepfake sites depicting 1,200 people

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced Monday the seizure of 12 domain names running websites that sold AI-generated non-consensual sexual images of about 1,200 real people, in what his office is calling the largest known takedown of celebrity deepfake sites to date, Wired reported.

The victims were overwhelmingly women and primarily public-facing individuals: actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social media influencers and activists, according to the announcement. Visitors to the affected domains now see a "THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED" notice. The takedowns came under court orders as part of an ongoing investigation by the office's Cyber Crime Bureau, 404 Media reported.

The whole case grew from one tip. "We would not be here if it wasn't for the courage of a survivor who came forward," Bragg said, adding that the sites were reachable in Manhattan, which gave his office jurisdiction under a New York law barring the sharing of images of people engaged in sexual acts without their consent.

Bragg acknowledged the seizure barely dents the underlying problem. "We're mindful that there are more sites," he said, and "there's a lot of work to be done."