A look at the state of deepfake pornography, which has become rampant on porn websites, with some videos of popular actresses having millions of views
Non-consensual deepfake videos, that humiliate and demean women, are racking up millions of views on mainstream porn sites. Nothing is being done about them Tweets: @mattburgess1 , @mcglynnclare , @statsinthewild , @notyourporn , @aislinnoc , @wireduk , @technollama , @neil_neilzone , @1br0wn , @marthegoudsmit , @mattburgess1 , @abhicm , and @sensityai Tweets: Matt Burgess / @mattburgess1 : New: deepfakes are increasingly appearing on mainstream porn websites. Hundreds of videos are making their way online each month and getting millions of views. One's been watched 20m times. And the porn sites... they're doing very little about it https://www.wired.co.uk/... Prof Clare McGlynn QC / @mcglynnclare : Seriously worrying how common deepfake porn now is - when are we going to do something about it? Must hold government, social media cos and porn websites to account: Deepfake porn is now mainstream. And major sites are cashing in https://www.wired.co.uk/... That Guy / @statsinthewild : One consistent thing about humans is that no matter what new technology comes out, the first thing people do with it is go “wow. That's amazing!” The second they do is apply it to sex. Deepfake porn is now mainstream. And major sites are cashing in https://www.wired.co.uk/... @notyourporn : “Deepfake videos hosted on three of the biggest porn websites, XVideos, Xnxx, and xHamster, have been viewed millions of times. The videos are surrounded by adverts, helping to make money for the sites.” https://ow.ly/... Aislinn O'Connell / @aislinnoc : My family are wonderful and supportive of my career, but the fact that I'm quoted in articles about deepfake porn does mean that it's not exactly ideal to send to aunties for bragging rights... https://www.wired.co.uk/... @wireduk : Non-consensual deepfake videos, that humiliate and demean women, are racking up millions of views on mainstream porn sites. And nothing is being done about them https://www.wired.co.uk/... Andres Guadamuz / @technollama : “Deepfake porn is now mainstream.” I usually don't like to sound too moralising, but what the heck is wrong with people? https://www.wired.co.uk/... Neil Brown / @neil_neilzone : Yes! This is one area where I can see deepfakes causing genuine harm. Are the UK's laws good enough to protect people (presumably, mostly women) from this? I'm sceptical. https://twitter.com/... @1br0wn : As Aislinn O'Connell is quoted saying, image rights on steroids may be needed... And a way for individuals to “claim” their face on platforms, then have certain automated rights over its usage? https://www.wired.co.uk/... Marthe Goudsmit / @marthegoudsmit : Deepfake porn is now mainstream, and just like with extreme pornography, that status indicates the level to which porn is a tool for degradation and humiliation @McGlynnClare warns it ‘shows .. the looming problem that is going to come for non-celebrities’ https://www.wired.co.uk/... Matt Burgess / @mattburgess1 : There's no silver bullet when it comes to deepfakes (of any sort) but mechanisms to deal with abuse that's already happening aren't in place. And the tech is getting cheaper, more accessible. This type of harassment will be weaponised against more people https://www.wired.co.uk/... Abhilash Nair / @abhicm : Pseudo imagery in the context of child sexual abuse material was criminalised in the UK in 1994. But as @mattburgess1 points out, the law is woefully behind when it comes to ‘deepfake’ (= pseudo) pornography featuring adults. @McGlynnClare https://twitter.com/... Sensity / @sensityai : Sensity's latest threat intelligence shows that the impact of #deepfakes on reputation extends much beyond celebrities, with fake explicit videos now attacking routinely YouTubers, Twitch gamers and Instagram influencers. Cover by @mattburgess1 on WIRED https://www.wired.co.uk/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2020 WIRED UK investigation was an early alarm: deepfakes of popular actresses were already pulling millions of views on mainstream tube sites like xHamster and Xnxx, which monetize them through ads placed alongside the videos, while observers argued UK law had no adequate provisions for adult deepfake pornography.
The subsequent record validates the warning. A [[a:843442|Bloomberg-cited study found roughly 150K nonconsensual porn deepfakes with 3.8B total views by May 2023]], up ninefold since 2019, and reporting on why deepfakes thrive in porn traced the problem to sex workers' inability to protect their IP in a stigmatized industry.
First-order effects
- The targeted actresses have no effective remedy right now: the videos stay up, the sites profit from advertising against them, and UK law offers no adequate provision to force removal.
- Campaigners and researchers cited in the piece — including Sensity and academic commentators — are left documenting the spread themselves because neither government nor the platforms act.
Second-order effects
- Ad-funded tube sites face a business-model conflict: removing deepfakes means cutting revenue-generating inventory, so enforcement depends entirely on voluntary policy rather than legal obligation.
- In the US, the patchwork response emerged exactly as predicted — effective state laws in places like Virginia and California coexisting with no federal statute, leaving victims' protection dependent on geography.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the endgame is a global legislative scramble: [[a:846623|US lawmakers moved to punish AI-generated nude targeting as cases involving teen girls surged]], and [[a:879868|the UK, Australia, South Korea, the US, and EU all now legislate against explicit deepfakes with laws still largely untested]].
- A related structural risk flagged in later reporting: non-consensual imagery persists indefinitely because it feeds machine learning training datasets, meaning today's failures become tomorrow's model inputs.
The trend: Non-consensual synthetic sexual imagery is scaling faster than platform moderation and legislation can contain it, turning deepfake porn into the forcing function for the world's synthetic-media laws.