After AI-generated, sexually explicit photos of Taylor Swift flooded the internet late last week, X and other social media sites began working to tighten related regulations.
On Monday, X lifted a search block on the phrases “Taylor Swift” and “Taylor Swift AI” and said it would do more in the future to stop the spread of AI-generated pornography.
“Search has been re-enabled and we will continue to be vigilant for any attempt to spread this content and will remove it if we find it,” Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, said in a statement shared with The Wall Street Journal.
The social media platform said it would crack down on child sexual exploitation in the wake of the explicit Swift images.
“At X, we have zero tolerance for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), and we are determined to make X inhospitable for actors who seek to exploit minors,” read a statement from X, released on Friday. “X has strengthened its policies and enforcement to tackle CSE. We are now taking action on users that distribute this content and also taking immediate action on the networks of users who engage with this horrible content.”
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, also condemned the graphic images of Swift and promised to continue working to keep “violating content” off its platforms.
“We strongly condemn the content that has appeared across different internet services, and we worked quickly to remove it from ours,” Meta said in a statement, per NBC News. “We continue to monitor our platforms for this violating content and will take appropriate action as needed.”
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the images of Swift “alarming” and urged social media platforms to “prevent the spread of misinformation and nonconsensual, intimate imagery of real people.”
SAG-AFTRA calls Swift images ‘deeply concerning’
The 2023 Hollywood strikes were largely motivated by fears of what AI advancements would mean for media and entertainment. Both the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were striking in part to secure “protections against the use of artificial intelligence,” per CNBC.
As the images of Swift spread across the internet, SAG-AFTRA expressed support for making these sorts of images illegal.
“The sexually explicit, A.I.-generated images depicting Taylor Swift are upsetting, harmful, and deeply concerning,” SAG-AFTRA wrote in a statement released Friday. “The development and dissemination of fake images — especially those of a lewd nature — without someone’s consent must be made illegal.”
“As a society, we have it in our power to control these technologies, but we must act now before it is too late,” the statement continues. “We support Taylor and women everywhere who are the victims of this kind of theft of their privacy and right to autonomy.”
In early January, an AI-generated Taylor Swift ad spread online
Swift was also the victim of an AI stunt a few weeks ago when a fraudulent, AI-generated ad of the singer spread online. The video features an AI likeness of Swift endorsing Le Creuset products and claiming she will give the products to her “loyal fans” for free.
Some Swifties were duped by the scam, reports The New York Times. In the ad, Swift prompts viewers to enter personal information on a website to receive a free cookware set — any personal information entered is stolen by the scammers.
Le Creuset says it has no involvement in the ads, reports The New York Times. Representatives for Swift have not provided comment on the videos.