American voters favor criminal prosecution of those who share non-consensual deepfake pornographic images, such as those that victimized pop star Taylor Swift, by wide margins, our first-of-its-kind poll shows.
More than three-quarters of respondents said they supported making deepfake porn illegal — a sign of the outrage over the compromising images of Swift’s face that went viral on social media.
This month’s DailyMail.com/TIPP survey of more than 1,400 respondents found that only 14 percent opposed criminalizing explicit file sharing; while another 11 percent said they weren’t sure.
The dozens of graphic images showed Swift engaging in a series of sex acts while wearing Kansas City Chief memorabilia after becoming a regular at football games to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
Older voters were more in favor of punishing deepfake sharers than young adults
One X-rated post was viewed 47 million times before it was removed from X/Twitter.
Alarmed social media users called the photos everything from “horrible” to “gross” and “exploitative.”
“Those deepfakes were terrible,” wrote Melissa Heikkilä of the MIT Technology Review.
“No one deserves to have their image exploited in this way,” Heikkilä added, saying it was time “to fight back against deepfake porn and help millions of women and marginalized people.”
Jesse Brown, a Canadian media personality, said they were “gross, but also absurd and clearly AI.”
“We need laws against deepfake porn that tells convincing lies, but this was just horny fanfic,” Brown added.
Swift is believed to be considering legal action against the deepfake porn website that posted the images, amid calls from fans and even the White House to take legislative action to combat the scourge.
The viral images helped push non-consensual deepfakes to the top of the political agenda, following years of concerns from experts that the use of AI image manipulation software was getting out of control.
The lewd images are themed around Swift’s fandom of the Kansas City Chiefs, which started after she started dating star player Travis Kelce
Lawmakers stepped in to combat the rise of non-consensual deepfakes with a new bill that would allow victims to take action against fake porn made in their likeness.
The DEFIANCE Act of 2024 was introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, R- Minn.
It would allow victims of explicit fake images and videos generated through AI and other technology to take civil action against anyone who produces or possesses the images with the intent to distribute them.
In some cases, even recipients can take action based on the design.
In May 2023, New York Congressman Joe Morelle introduced the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.
His legislation would criminalize the non-consensual production and sharing of AI-generated sexually explicit material.
The Democrat said he hoped the Swift scandal would draw attention to his efforts to make deep-fake pornography a federal crime warranting fines and prison sentences.
Our research found that voters in all parts of the country supported criminal charges against deepfake sharers.
Senate Judiciary Committee Member Lindsey Graham (left) and Chairman Dick Durbin (right) joined Senators Hawley and Klobuchar in introducing the DEFIANCE Act
Those aged 65 and over were much more enthusiastic about imposing criminal charges on sharers, with 84 percent of them supporting punitive measures, compared with two-thirds of adults aged 18 to 24.
There was also a slight bias. More than 81 percent of Democrats supported criminal charges, compared to 71 percent of Republican voters.
Social network analytics company Graphika discovered that the deepfakes originated on 4chan in early January before moving to Telegram and then X, which was forced to block all Swift searches after the lewd images sparked public outrage.
The website that posted fake porn of Swift and other celebrities had been doing so for years.
On the 4chan channel, Swift is just one of many celebrities whose likeness has been used to create sexual or violent images.
Other victims include Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series.
Deep fake porn of celebrities has been available on various websites for years, but the number of cases involving ordinary people is increasing along with the sophistication and ease with which people can access the image software, experts say.
Victims often have little recourse and have difficulty removing the images.