Elon Musk's social media platform X has blocked searches for Taylor Swift as pornographic deepfake images of the singer have circulated online, per the AP. Attempts to search for her name on the site resulted in an error message and a prompt for users to retry their search, which added, "Don't fret—it's not your fault." Searches for variations of her name such as "taylorswift" and "Taylor Swift AI" turned up the same error messages.
Sexually explicit and abusive fake images of Swift began circulating widely last week on X, making her the most famous victim of a scourge that tech platforms and anti-abuse groups have struggled to fix. "This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue," Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, said in a statement to multiple news outlets.
After the images began spreading online, the singer's devoted fanbase of "Swifties" quickly mobilized, launching a counteroffensive on X and a #ProtectTaylorSwift hashtag to flood it with more positive images of the pop star. Some said they were reporting accounts that were sharing the deepfakes. The deepfake-detecting group Reality Defender said it tracked a deluge of nonconsensual pornographic material depicting Swift, particularly on X. Some images also made their way to Meta-owned Facebook and other social media platforms.
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