

He and his fellow researchers have already seen the technology advance and spread. Patrini suspects these targeted attacks could get a whole lot worse. Patrini says he’s spoken with influencers and YouTubers, as well, who’ve had deepfaked pornographic images of them sent directly to their sponsors, costing them immense emotional and financial strain. The technology first grew popular in the deep recesses of the internet as a way to face-swap celebrities into porn videos, and it’s been used as part of harassment campaigns to silence female journalists. There are also many cases in which deepfakes have been used to target celebrities and other high-profile individuals. Deepfake revenge porn adds a whole new dimension to the harassment, because the victims don’t realize such images exist. A study from the Australian government, looking at Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, found that ratio to be as high as one in three. In 2019, a study from the American Psychological Association found that one in 12 women end up being victims of revenge porn at some point in their life. Deepfake revenge pornĪbusers have been using pornographic imagery to harass women for some time. Patrini says they also haven’t seen “any tangible effect on these communities” since contacting the authorities. Telegram did not respond to either their note or MIT Technology Review’s follow-up request for comment. The researchers also reached out to Telegram and to relevant law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. None of the women responded, Patrini says. The researchers were able to identify only a small handful of the women and tried to contact them to understand their experiences. The majority of them are private individuals whom the bot’s users say they know in real life or whom they found on Instagram. The victims, however, seem to come from a broader range of countries, including Argentina, Italy, Russia, and the US. A poll of 7,200 users showed that roughly 70% of them are from Russia or other Russian-speaking countries. The community, which is easily discoverable via search and social media, has steadily grown in membership over the last year. “The creator will receive an incentive as if he’s playing a game,” Patrini says. The more a photo gets liked, the more its creator is rewarded with tokens to access the bot’s premium features. The image-sharing channels include interfaces that people can use to post and judge their nude creations. The central channel is dedicated to hosting the bot itself, while the others are used for functions like technical support and image sharing.
