Inside the Taylor Swift deepfake scandal: ‘It’s men telling a powerful woman to get back in her box’

AI-generated porn, fuelled by misogyny, is flooding the internet, with Taylor Swift the latest high-profile casualty. Victims say social media platforms are failing to take it down - will they now start taking it seriously?

For almost a whole day last week, deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift rapidly spread through X. Thesocial media platform, formerly Twitter, was so slow to react that one image racked up 47m views before it was taken down. It was largely Swift's fans who mobilised and mass-reported the images, and there was a sense of public anger, with even the White House calling it alarming". Xeventually removed the images and blocked searches to the pop star's name on Sunday evening.

For women who have been victims of the creation and sharing of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, the events of the past week will have been a horrible reminder of their own abuse, even if they may also hope that the spotlight will force legislators into action. But because the pictures were removed, Swift's experience is far from the norm. Most victims, even those who are famous, are less fortunate. The 17-year-old Marvel actor Xochitl Gomez spoke this month about X failing to remove pornographic deepfakes of her. This has nothing to do with me. And yet it's on here with my face," she said.