DOJ seizes deepfake nude sites under TAKE IT DOWN Act

The U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security have seized the domains CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com, two sites accused of publishing non-consensual AI-generated nude and sexual images of women.

According to the DOJ, the sites contained digitally forged images and videos made to appear as if they depicted famous women, including politicians, first ladies, royalty, journalists, television presenters, athletes, entertainers, and others.

This appears to be one of the first major public enforcement actions under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a law meant to address non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a federal law aimed at combating non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes. While supporters argue it gives victims a way to have harmful content removed more quickly, critics have raised concerns about how takedown requests may be handled and whether legitimate content could be affected.

Readers interested in learning more about the TAKE IT DOWN Act and how it is being enforced can review the Federal Trade Commission’s overview at TAKE IT DOWN Act enforcement starts now: What to know about FTC enforcement.

The bigger question is whether domain seizures actually stop this kind of activity, or whether the people behind these sites simply move somewhere else. Still, this is an important case to watch because it gives us a real-world example of how this law may be enforced.

If you want my honest opinion, if it is someone who wants to violate the law, they’ll buy more domains, set up more infrastructure, and call it good. But if someone doing this is arrested and charged, it could be a good thing. We’ll have to watch this to see what exactly happens.

The article is titled DOJ seizes CFAKE, SOCFAKE deepfake nude sites under TAKE IT DOWN Act and is available on BleepingComputer.

CyberScoop also has coverage, which gives me another reason to get back over there and catch up on what I’ve missed.