The Internet Is Full of Deepfakes, and Most of Them Are Porn
Much has been made about the risks of deepfakes, the AI-created images and videos that can pass for real. And most of the attention goes to the dangers that deepfakes pose regarding disinformation, particularly of the political variety. While that is true, the primary use of deepfakes is for porn and it is no less dangerous.
Home Security Heroes has put together a report, 2023 State of Deepfakes, that looks at how far the problem has gone, and found that deepfake pornography makes up 98% of all deepfake videos online. Many of the tools to create deepfake porn are free and easy to use, which has fueled a 550% increase in the volume of deepfakes online from 2019 to 2023. The ten leading dedicated deepfake porn sites had monthly traffic of 34,836,914 this year. And the deepfake videos and images go far beyond the bounds of deepfake porn sites; 70% of the top porn sites also host deepfake porn.
Ninety-nine percent of the individuals targeted are women, while nearly half (48%) of surveyed US men have seen deepfake pornography at least once and 74% said they do not feel guilty about it.
Despite these attitudes, deepfake porn is far from victimless. It has been wielded against women as a weapon of blackmail, an attempt to destroy their careers, and as a form of sexual assault. Over 30 girls between the ages of 12 and 14 in a Spanish town were recently subject to deepfake porn images of them spreading through social media.
The psychological effects weigh as heavy as any of the practical consequences. It’s a sexual violation that causes trauma, depression, and anxiety.
There are also few avenues of justice for those who find themselves the victims of deepfake porn. Only a few states have laws against deepfake porn, some of
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