Major technology companies, including Google, Apple, and Discord, have been enabling people to quickly sign up to harmful \u201Cundress\u201D websites. These sites use artificial intelligence to remove clothes from real photos to make victims appear \u201Cnude\u201D without their consent. More than a dozen of these deepfake websites have been using login buttons from tech giants for months.
According to an analysis by WIRED, 16 of the largest so-called undress and nudify websites used the sign-in infrastructure from Google, Apple, Discord, Twitter (now X), Patreon, and Line. This approach lets users easily create accounts on the deepfake websites, providing a veneer of credibility before they pay for credits and generate images.
While bots and websites creating nonconsensual intimate images have existed for years, their numbers have surged with the advent of generative AI. The abuse is alarmingly widespread, with teenage boys allegedly creating such images of their classmates. Critics argue that tech companies have been slow to address the issue, with these websites frequently appearing in search results and paid advertisements promoting them on social media.
\u201CThis is a continuation of a trend that normalizes sexual violence against women and girls by Big Tech,\u201D said Adam Dodge, a lawyer and founder of EndTAB (Ending Technology-Enabled Abuse). He emphasized that sign-in APIs are tools of convenience, and highlighted the need to put up barriers to accessing such apps rather than providing easy entry.
WIRED’s analysis showed that Google\u2019s login system appeared on 16 websites, Discord\u2019s on 13, and Apple\u2019s on six. X (formerly Twitter) appeared on three websites, while Patreon and messaging service Line were both on two websites. These login systems were used despite the tech companies\u2019 existing rules prohibiting the enabling of harm or privacy invasions.
After being contacted by WIRED, spokespeople for Discord and Apple stated they removed the developer accounts affiliated with these websites. Google mentioned it would take action against developers found violating its terms. Patreon reiterated that it prohibits creating explicit imagery, and Line indicated it is investigating but could not comment on specific sites. X did not respond to queries.
In the hours after Discord\u2019s vice president of trust and safety, Jud Hoffman, confirmed the termination of the websites\u2019 access to its APIs for policy violations, one undress site posted on Telegram that authorization via Discord was \u201Ctemporarily unavailable\u201D and claimed it was working to restore access. The service did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment about its operations.