Celebrity Deepfake Incidents Hit Record High

Forbes

16-04-2025

Have you seen online images of Taylor Swift in a compromising situation any time recently? If so, you're far from alone.
Already, this year, there have been 179 incidents recorded—more than during the whole of 2024. And last year's figure of 150 was itself more than two and a half times higher than 2023.
A quarter of deepfakes involved Elon Musk, with Taylor Swift the second-most faked celebrity. Tom Hanks, Kanye West, Emma Watson, and Brad Pitt all made appearances too.
The aim in a third of cases was fraud, with other motives including generating explicit content and political endorsement.
"Deepfake technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and with it, the capacity for misinformation and malicious intent grows", said said Tomas Stamulis, chief security officer at Surfshark, which carried out the research.
"The potential for harm ranges from tarnished personal reputation to threatened national security. People have to be cautious, as losing trust in the information we hear and see can significantly impact personal privacy, institutions, and even democracy".
Examples using explicit content rose to 53 this spring, up from 26 the year before, while there were 48 incidents of fraud, almost as many as the total of 56 last year.
And while you might think that, with the U.S. election over and done with, there would be fewer political examples, that's very much not the case. Political incidents have already reached 40 so far this year, nearly as many as the 50 during 2024.
As you might expect, Donald Trump is the most targeted politician, with 25 incidents, accounting for 18% of politician-related deepfakes. Joe Biden follows with 20 incidents, mainly seen during the elections, where his voice was used in robocalls. Kamala Harris and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have faced six and four incidents, respectively.
In one recent example, a deepfake image of NBC News anchor Al Roker was used to claim that he'd had had two heart attacks in the past and to plug a treatment for hypertension.
In the U.K., recent deepfakes have included well-known personalities including financial expert Martin Lewis, radio DJ Zoe Ball and adventurer Ben Fogle, used to promote fraudulent cryptocurrency and investment schemes. One elderly victim lost £50,000.
But there are new efforts to deal with the problem. In the U.K., deepfakes will fall under the provisions of the Online Safety Act.
In the U.S., meanwhile, the bipartisan Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe, or No Fakes Act, aims to protect people's voice and visual likeness from unauthorized computer-generated recreations.
The act has the support of YouTube, which last week said it would provide clear legal frameworks to protect individuals' rights.
"Nobody—whether they're Tom Hanks or an 8th grader just trying to be a kid—should worry about someone stealing their voice and likeness", said senator Chris Coons, one of the sponsors of the bill. "Incredible technology like AI can help us push the limits of human creativity, but only if we protect Americans from those who would use it to harm our communities".