Taylor Swift & AI deepfakes: Swifties Join the Fight Against Deepfake Pornography
By Katie Graham
Over the past week, Taylor Swift fans were outraged to find out that America’s sweetheart has become the latest victim of deepfake nonconsensual pornography. Sexually explicit AI-generated pictures of Swift proliferated on websites like Celeb Jihad before they quickly spread to social media, going viral on X, formerly known as Twitter.[1] X took down the accounts that shared these images and worked to remove the content but not before they were viewed 47 million times.[2] Known as “deepfakes,” these images utilize AI to create fake yet convincingly realistic sexually explicit images of individuals, often without their consent.[3] Currently the law offers little recourse for victims depicted in deepfakes, with no federal legislation addressing it and very few states banning it.[4]
The massive backlash in response to the deepfakes of Swift, however, is generating significant political response.[5] Swifties took to X with the hashtag “protect Taylor Swift” to clog up the search field and to display their outrage at the situation.[6] SAG-AFTRA denounced the creation of the images and declared such content made without consent should be banned.[7] The White House even released a statement about the issue, “alarmed” by the spread of the fake images, and calling on Congress to take legislative action in response.[8] Lawmakers in Congress have also spoke out, highlighting bills they believe could protect against instances like this and arguing how this further proves the need for AI regulation.[9] One such bill, the No AI FRAUD Act, was considered in the House shortly before the viral fake images, and would seek to “prevent the unauthorized creation and use of AI-generated replicas of an individual’s likeness, voice, or other personal characteristics without that individual’s consent.”[10] Representative Morelle also advocated for renewed interest in his proposed Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, which would criminalize deepfake pornography that is posted without the consent of the individual.[11]
The possibility for reform to come in response to this outrage seems even more likely when considering the impact this massive fanbase had in generating legislative efforts in the recent past. [12] Following the wake of the 2022 Eras Tour presale Ticketmaster fiasco, antitrust and consumer protection regarding ticketing practices became main political talking points.[13] Maybe the collective power of the Swifties will be enough to convince legislators to finally pass legislation that addresses deepfake nonconsensual pornography.
Katie Graham is a current 2L at Vanderbilt Law School. Before attending law school, Katie studied history at Samford University in Birmingham.
[1] See Ryan Smith, The Violation of Taylor Swift, Newsweek (Jan. 27, 2024, 5:00 AM), https://www.newsweek.com/taylor-swift-ai-pornography-deepfake-photos-twitter-x-1864445.
[2] See Kate Conger and John Yoon, Explicit Deepfake Images of Taylor Swift Elude Safeguards and Swamp Social Media, The N.Y. Times (Jan. 26, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/arts/music/taylor-swift-ai-fake-images.html.
[3] See Rebecca A. Delfino, Pornographic Deepfakes: The Case for Federal Criminalization of Revenge Porn’s Next Tragic Act, 88 Fordham L. Rev. 887 (2019)
[4] See Eric Kocsis, Deepfakes, Shallowfakes, and the Need for A Private Right of Action, 126 Dick. L. Rev. 621 (2022).
[5] See Explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images spread quickly on social media, CBS News Miami (Jan. 26, 2024, 11:36 AM), https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/explicit-artificial-intelligence-taylor-swift-images-spread-quickly-on-social-media/.
[6] Id.
[7] Ethan Millman, AI-Generated Explicit Taylor Swift Images ‘Must Be Made Illegal,’ Says SAG-AFTRA, Rolling Stone (Jan. 26, 2024), https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sag-aftra-taylor-swift-ai-images-legislation-1234955473/
[8] Karen Travers and Emmanuelle Saliba, Fake explicit Taylor Swift images: White House is ‘alarmed’, ABC News (Jan. 26, 2024, 8:00 PM), https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-house-calls-legislation-regulate-ai-amid-explicit/story?id=106718520.
[9] See Leah Sarnoff, Taylor Swift and No AI Fraud Act: How Congress plans to fight back against AI deepfakes, ABC News (Jan. 30, 2024, 10:36 AM), https://abcnews.go.com/US/taylor-swift-ai-fraud-act-congress-plans-fight/story?id=106765709
[10] See id., U.S. House Proposes ‘No AI FRAUD Act’ to Protect Individuals’ Likenesses and Voices, JD Supra (Jan. 17, 2024), https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/u-s-house-proposes-no-ai-fraud-act-to-3223759/.
[11] Joe Morelle (@RepJoeMorelle), X (Jan. 26, 2024, 10:53 AM), https://twitter.com/RepJoeMorelle/status/1750924815874019512.
[12] Explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images spread quickly on social media, CBS News Miami (Jan. 26, 2024, 11:36 AM), https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/explicit-artificial-intelligence-taylor-swift-images-spread-quickly-on-social-media/.
[13] See id.