The White House has now weighed in on viral pornographic deepfake images of Taylor Swift.
The realistic-looking AI images feature the pop star in Kansas City Chief memorabilia and body paint.
According to a report from The Daily Mail, the images originated from Celeb Jihad, a website that hosts leaked and faked images of nude celebrities. However, they soon spread across Facebook, X, Reddit, and other social media platforms.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “We are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of the … false images.”
“While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people,” Jean-Pierre continued.
The press secretary added, “Sadly, though, too often we know that lax enforcement disproportionately impacts women and they also impact girls, sadly, who are the overwhelming targets of online harassment and also abuse.”
Swift is reportedly "furious" and considering legal action over the images.
An unnamed source "close to Swift" spoke to the Daily Mail on Thursday, saying, "Whether or not legal action will be taken is being decided, but there is one thing that is clear: these fake AI-generated images are abusive, offensive, exploitative, and done without Taylor’s consent and/or knowledge."
"The Twitter account that posted them does not exist anymore. It is shocking that the social media platform even let them be up to begin with," the source continued. "These images must be removed from everywhere they exist and should not be promoted by anyone."
The source continued, "These images must be removed from everywhere they exist and should not be promoted by anyone. They have the right to be, and every woman should be. The door needs to be shut on this. Legislation needs to be passed to prevent this and laws must be enacted."
Swift has not publicly commented on the images.
The Daily Mail noted, "Nonconsensual deepfake pornography is illegal in Texas, Minnesota, New York, Virginia, Hawaii, and Georgia. In Illinois and California, victims can sue the creators of the pornography in court for defamation."
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Media Coalition have argued that laws limiting deepfakes may violate the First Amendment.
