Deepfake porn website operator settles with San Francisco, agrees to shut down
The San Francisco City Attorney's office has settled with a company that operated websites creating "deepfake nudes", where artificial intelligence is used to turn photos of children and adults into pornography.
City Attorney David Chiu announced Monday that Briver LLC has agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting the company and its owners from operating any websites that create nonconsensual deepfakes. Briver LLC has also agreed to pay $100,000 in civil penalties.
According to Chiu, Briver LLC operated two such websites, which offered users the opportunity to upload clothed images of real people to create realistic-looking nude images, usually for a fee. Before being shut down, the company's websites allowed users to create pornographic images of adults and children.
In August of last year, Chiu's office filed suit against 16 of the most visited deepfake nude websites. The websites targeted in the lawsuit had reportedly been visited more than 200 million times in the first six months of 2024.
As a result of the investigation, 10 of the sites are now offline or no longer accessible in California, according to the city attorney. Meanwhile, the lawsuit will proceed against the remaining defendants.
"While our lawsuit has so far led to an initial settlement as well as shut down 10 websites that exploit women and children, we won't stop until all owners are held accountable and blocked from opening similar sites," Chiu said in a statement. "While generative AI holds enormous promise, these website operators are engaged in blatant sexual abuse and must be stopped."
Chiu's office said the images are often used to extort, bully and humiliate women and girls. One such incident involved students at a middle school in Southern California last year.
Celebrities, including Taylor Swift, have also been victimized by AI-generated explicit images.
Anyone who may have been t he victim of nonconsensual deepfake pornography or has relevant information in the case is asked to contact the San Francisco City Attorney's Office through the agency's consumer complaint web portal or by calling 415-554-3977.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
7 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump speaks to China's Xi amid ongoing dispute over trade truce
Trump likely to speak with China's president this week, White House says Washington — President Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday amid an ongoing dispute over a temporary deal to ease the escalation of tariffs between the U.S. and China. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the two leaders spoke Thursday morning at Mr. Trump's request. The White House did not immediately confirm the conversation. Under a May 12 truce between the two superpowers, the U.S. reduced tariffs on Chinese goods to around 30% from 145%, while China reduced its levies on American imports to 10%. The 90-day deal was meant to give both sides breathing room to strike a broader agreement, but talks soon stalled. Last week, Mr. Trump accused China of violating the May 12 deal. U.S. officials have said China is withholding some products, including rare earth minerals, that it agreed to resume exporting under the agreement. Earlier this week, China said the U.S. is undermining the deal by imposing new export control guidelines on AI chips and planning to revoke Chinese student visas. On "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was expecting the two leaders to resolve their issues when they spoke. "I am confident that when President Trump and party Chairman Xi have a call, that this will be ironed out," Bessent said. In an early morning post on Truth Social on Wednesday, the president wrote that "I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!" contributed to this report.
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
British Airways bans crew members from taking selfies during layovers: ‘Bit of an overkill'
A layover could lead to a layoff in a flash. While airlines often restrict crewmember social media use on the job, British Airways has taken the crackdown to the next level — by limiting what members post during their personal time as well. The carrier now prohibits airline employees — including pilots and flight attendants — from documenting where they stay during crew layovers on social media, One Mile At A Time reported. This means that ever-popular 'get ready with me' TikToks — in which flight attendants film themselves donning their outfits for the day — no longer fly. The airline's security team claims that bad actors can use AI-powered location tools to pinpoint crew member locations, thereby compromising their safety. Getty Images And don't think about snapping a pool or lobby selfie– the policy applies everywhere inside the crewmember hotel, outside the hotel and even the parking lot, A View From The Wing reported. Even a quick room-view shot showing nothing but sky and curtains is verboten under the ban. According to the new guidelines, crew members are also required to go over their feeds with a fine-toothed comb and delete every trace of prior layover hotel-related content — even the stuff set to 'private' — or risk getting canned. British Airways isn't imposing this digital clampdown to kill crewmember fun or torpedo fledgling influencer careers, but rather to mitigate any potential safety risks. Flight expert Gary Leff at A View From The Wing found BA's social media crackdown overzealous given that crew resorts aren't exactly a secret. NurPhoto via Getty Images The airline's security team claims that bad actors can use AI-powered location tools to pinpoint crewmembers' locations, the Mirror reported. This sophisticated software can analyze subtle background cues — including parking lot signs, pool tiles and even window geometry — to identify flight attendant accommodations, which could put flight staff in jeopardy. One Mile At A Time described the policy as 'strict', writing that it 'seems like a bit of an overkill, since it's not that hard to figure out where airline crews stay.' The move follows a BA policy rolled out in 2023 that banned crew members from posting while on duty, including snapping cockpit selfies or sitting in an engine. The crackdown comes as an increased number flight attendants are taking up side hustles as influencers, often providing travel tips and other inside info to their sometimes million-plus followers. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the content takes place inside hotels with topics ranging from hotel cleanliness to the best ways to tell if an intruder is lurking under the bed. Flight expert Gary Leff at A View From The Wing found BA's social media crackdown overzealous given that crew resorts aren't exactly a secret. 'Crews arrive in uniform to the same contracted hotels in each city. Local drivers, aviation enthusiasts and would-be stalkers already know where they're staying,' he wrote. 'They go out into the city and tell people where they're staying. So while it's possible to extract location clues from photos, it's entirely unnecessary to do so.' He found the measure particularly ludicrous as there's been no actual incident of a hotel safety issue and that it's all 'hypothetical.' In April, a BA crew member was found dead in his San Francisco hotel room during a stopover between flights — although there was no evidence of foul play. Leff added that this clampdown could put a damper on crew member recruitment as a lot of this outreach is done peer-to-peer via social media so 'cracking down on crew behavior makes those same jobs less attractive' to applicants.
Axios
22 minutes ago
- Axios
Trump and Xi hold call, Chinese state media says
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Thursday, Chinese state media said, amid rising trade war tensions. Why it matters: Washington and Beijing have accused each other of violating the 90-day trade truce reached three weeks ago, under which both dramatically lowered tariffs and promised further dialogue. China's foreign minister claimed this week that the U.S. had "introduced a series of negative measures" since the deal, and that relations were at a "critical juncture." A day earlier, a spokesperson for China's Commerce Ministry alleged the U.S. had "seriously undermined" the trade agreement by announcing new AI chip export control guidelines and the revocation of visas for Chinese students. China was prepared to "take resolute and forceful measures," the spokesperson said. That came after Trump on Friday claimed China had " totally violated" the tariff pause agreement, and later doubled steel tariffs. Between the lines: The tariff pause deal that's starting to look shaky contributed directly to a rebound in consumer confidence, CEO confidence and the stock market. State of play: This would be the first announced call between the two since Jan. 17, three days before Trump took office. Trump claimed in April that Xi had called him to discuss tariffs since then, but Beijing denied that. As Trump pushed tariffs all the way to 145% in April, Chinese officials suggested Xi was not interested in speaking to Trump unless the U.S. dialed back its aggression both rhetorically and on trade. Trump has repeatedly suggested that he and Xi speak directly to work out the trade dispute, and top U.S. officials made clear in recent days that he was itching to get on the phone with Xi. Friction point: One issue Trump was likely to have raised on the call is rare earth minerals.
