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Megan Thee Stallion is the latest celebrity to be targeted with a deepfake porn video without her consent, highlighting how common this form of abuse is becoming.
Deepfakes are videos that effectively superimpose someone’s face onto another body, real or fictional, often using artificial BroadCast Unitedligence to make it appear as if they are doing the actions of the person in the video. These videos can include everything from videos that make politicians look like they are giving interviews they never gave to non-consensual sexually explicit videos where people’s faces are swapped.
The latter has become an increasingly common type of sexual abuse, with new apps popping up all the time. Enable people to create clips They know other people. As Cleo Abram points out A Vox video from 2020“The most pressing threat from deepfakes isn’t politics. It’s pornography.”
Last week, a set of deepfake videos of Megan Thee Stallion containing sexually explicit images circulated on X. According to NBC Newswhich has received tens of thousands of views and has been posted by multiple accounts. A spokesperson for X also told the outlet that they are now “proactively removing this content” as its rules “prohibit the sharing of non-consensual intimate media.”
“It’s disgusting that you guys are still going out of your way to hurt me after seeing me win,” Megan Thee Stallion said in a statement on Saturday on X. “You guys have gone too far, fakes.”
Deepfakes are extremely invasive to the targeted users and difficult to remedy because even if they are removed, the damage has already been done. Following the X post on Saturday, Megan Thee Stallion gets emotional at concert Singing “Cobra” and crying, A song that deals with mental health issues(She did not acknowledge the topic during her appearance on the show.)
Megan Thee Stallion is one of a growing number of high-profile women who have experienced this type of assault and are speaking out against it. Her experience highlights the severity of the problem and how it could harm more people as the tools to commit it become more accessible.
Deepfakes are a growing form of abuse
Megan Thee Stallion’s experience shows how deepfakes have become a weapon over the past few years, including against other celebrities, such as Taylor SwiftAs well as private. As cybersecurity firm DeepTrace discovered in 2019, 96% of Deepfake videos The content on the Internet is pornographic and almost 100% of it is about women.
“Deepfake sex videos can make people feel like their bodies don’t belong to them and can make it difficult for them to access the internet, find or keep a job, or feel safe,” Danielle Citron, a law professor at Boston University, said in the DeepTrace report.
Not only are these videos traumatic when they emerge, but the effects can stay with women for years, affecting their reputations and mental health. The abuse, much like so-called revenge porn – a form of abuse that involves publishing nude photos of women without their consent – is degrading and designed to take away their power. “Deepfake abuse is often designed to try to silence women who speak out,” said Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University in the UK. Tell Glamour.
Previously, Megan Thee Stallion had condemned the behavior of rapper Tory Lanez. Convicted of shooting her in the footShe also took on Suffered multiple attacks from men Questioning her story, Ruining her experience In the following years.
As Vox’s Anna North reportsAs AI technology becomes more common and accessible, the prevalence of these deepfakes is only expected to grow. In some cases, mobile apps have even allowed high school students to create sexually explicit deepfake images of their classmates without their consent. Online creators now also offer custom deepfakes For those who want to make videos and images of famous stars or individuals they know.
One of the worrisome aspects of these actions is that people have limited means to combat them. In the case of Megan Thee Stallion, X has been aggressive in removing videos, though it has not always done the same with other high-profile figures. NBC NewsAdditionally, North wrote that the federal government is still working to pass a law banning these types of deepfakes, and that truly addressing the problem will require increased accountability from tech companies.
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