On November 19, searches for two specific websites known to host deepfake “porn”, including one that has been blocked from access in the UK but is viewable with a VPN, brought up the sites – offering porn and AI celebrity nudes – topping all searches. engine lists.

For deepfake porn searches more generally, all three platforms have broadcast reports on the phenomenon, its threat and its consequences for victims, illustrating the measures taken to combat the problem within technology companies since the attention paid The problem has reached the general public with high-profile cases. , like Taylor Swift.

However, sites purporting to show celebrity deepfake porn also appeared on pages two, three and six of Google searches for “deepfake porn” on November 19.

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Cally Jane Beech: “Image-based abuse is a pandemic against women and girls”

Activist and influencer Cally Jane Beech has been honored as GLAMOR’s Activist of the Year at our annual Women of the Year Awards for courageously taking a stand against sexually explicit and digitally altered “deepfakes” of women and of girls. Here, she talks to GLAMOR about her experience with deepfake abuse, how motherhood influences her activism, and why she’s calling on the government to protect all survivors of image-based abuse.

Searches for creating deepfakes also showed tools and guides for creating them on all three platforms, including 12 free “deepfake porn creation” tools in one link.

Some deepfake software requires computer knowledge and processing power, which takes weeks or even months to master. And of course, not all deepfakes are explicit, non-consensual, or illegal. But search engines are making how-to guides for all deepfakes more accessible.

Search engines promoting access to these tools play a “crucial role” in facilitating the creation of deepfake abuse and their audiences, said Elena Michael, co-founder of NotYourPorn, which campaigns against deepfake sexual abuse. online image with survivors.

“No one has a chance to eradicate deepfakes when there are hundreds of listings,” Michael said of the many tools and guides for creating and viewing deepfakes, sites recommending the technology, and forums. discussing the abuse of deepfakes. “These listings are accessible to everyone,” she added.

Recent comments from Technology Secretary Peter Kyle that tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, should be treated as nation states are failing to push for platform accountability, Michael added.

The message to survivors and women is that the right of a business – including search engines – to make money is more important than your right to exist freely and securely, offline and online .

“The message to survivors and women is that the right of a company (including search engines) to make money is more important than your right to exist freely and securely, offline and online. line.”

A government spokesperson said: “Under the Online Safety Act, it is already an offense to share or threaten to share intimate images, including deepfakes, without consent. Earlier this month, we strengthened the law to make clear that platforms will need to prioritize tackling the abuse of deepfake intimate images, proactively remove more of this material, and prevent it from appearing in the first place.

“We are committed to making women and girls safer online and offline, which is why we are determined to deliver on the manifesto commitment to ban their creation as quickly as possible.”