In a stunning move, social media platform
A search for Swift’s name Sunday afternoon on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter yielded the error message: “Something went wrong.” Try reloading.’
“This is a temporary action and is being implemented with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety in this area,” Joe Benarroch, X’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2023 after launching a record-breaking global tour and becoming the world’s most streamed music artist.
One image of Swift shared on X was viewed 47 million times before the account was suspended, according to a New York Times report. The company was widely criticized for its apparent slow response to the emergence of the photos.
Since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, he has been criticized for his own controversial posts and his attempts to overhaul the platform’s content moderation policies. Many advertisers on the platform have pulled back their spend for fear of appearing next to harmful messages.
An X executive said the drastic move to block all searches for Taylor Swift’s name was “temporary” as the company wants to “prioritize safety.”
This is the message that greets users who try to search for Swift’s name, even the singer’s profile is not searchable
The message assures users that it’s not their fault that Swift content isn’t appearing in search results
The singer is the seventh most followed person on X. At the time of writing, users can’t even look up her profile. Despite being so popular, Swift has only made 816 posts. By comparison, number six on the list, her former love rival Katy Perry, has posted 12,000 tweets.
Videos of Swift celebrating with boyfriend Travis Kelce after helping the Kansas City Chiefs reach the Super Bowl on Sunday night continue to appear under media searches, as well as lists related to Swift’s superfans on the site.
Ironically, the media tab is where all the very explicit AI-generated images initially surfaced before X started suspending accounts that had reshared them last week.
Following the publication of the vile images, Swift’s ardent fanbase of Swifties quickly took action, launching a counter-offensive on the platform formerly known as Twitter and a hashtag #ProtectTaylorSwift to flood it with more positive images of the pop star.
Some said they reported accounts sharing the deepfakes.
The deepfake-detecting group Reality Defender said it was tracking a flood of non-consensual pornographic material depicting Swift, especially on X. Some images also made their way to Meta-owned Facebook and other social media platforms.
Travis Kelce kisses girlfriend Taylor after leading his Chiefs team to a spot in the Super Bowl
America’s favorite couple had a moment to celebrate with the eyes of the world on them
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday called the fake images “alarming” and said social media companies have a responsibility to prevent the spread of such misinformation.
Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing that lax enforcement against false images, possibly created by artificial intelligence (AI), disproportionately affects women.
A source close to Swift said: ‘A decision is being made as to whether or not legal action will be taken, but one thing is clear: these fake AI-generated images are abusive, offensive, exploitative and done without consent and connivance with Taylor.
They said: ‘The Twitter account she posted no longer exists. It’s shocking that the social media platform allowed them to exist at all.
‘These images should be removed wherever they exist and should not be promoted by anyone.
‘Taylor’s family and friends are furious, as are her fans of course. They have the right to be, and every woman should be.
‘The door must be closed for this. Legislation needs to be passed to prevent this and laws need to be passed.”
The disgusting sites hide in plain sight, seemingly cloaked in proxy IP addresses.
X posted a statement almost a day after the images were posted, saying, “Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate action against the accounts responsible for posting them.”
A Meta spokesperson told DailyMail.com: ‘This content violates our policies and we are removing it from our platforms and taking action against accounts that posted it.
“We will continue to monitor it and if we discover any additional infringing content, we will remove it and take appropriate action.”