{"id":346718,"date":"2026-09-14T21:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T21:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346718\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T21:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T21:36:12","slug":"multiple-deepfake-porn-sites-targeting-celebrities-shut-down-by-manhattan-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346718\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple deepfake porn sites targeting celebrities shut down by Manhattan prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dozen website domains that unlawfully shared and sold sexually explicit \u201cdeepfake videos\u201d of celebrities,<\/a> athletes and politicians have been shut down and seized, Manhattan prosecutors said Monday.<\/p>\n

In what was described as the largest seizure of websites focused on AI-generated illegal pornography, law enforcement agents targeted sites that depicted and victimized nearly 1,200 people \u2014 overwhelmingly women \u2014 by using their likenesses in nonconsensual images and videos.<\/p>\n

\u201dThese horrific violations of privacy follow victims into their careers and personal lives and take an immense toll on emotional and mental wellbeing,\u201d Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg<\/a>\u00a0said at a news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201dI want to be clear: We do not tolerate sexual exploitation in any form, including sharing or selling deepfake pornography.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shutdowns did not include any arrests, although Bragg described the crimes behind the illegal websites as Class A misdemeanors.<\/p>\n

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announces the seizure of 12 domains of illegal websites selling AI-generated \u201cdeepfake\u201d pornography at a press conference on Monday in Manhattan. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Bragg said the victims included social media influencers, actors, activists, athletes, musicians and politicians,<\/a> one of whom came forward and helped law enforcement officials track down the sites.<\/p>\n

Bragg said there are many more deepfake victims who are not celebrities who are often subjected to domestic violence and threats of exploitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message to people creating and publishing this content is this: What you are doing is a crime,\u201d Bragg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New York State it is illegal to share real photos of people engaging in sex without their permission. Likewise it is illegal to share that content if it is created or altered by artificial intelligence tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bragg said the investigation into these and other websites remains ongoing.<\/p>\n

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announces the seizure of 12 domains of illegal websites selling AI-generated \u201cdeepfake\u201d pornography at a press conference on Monday in Manhattan. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Visitors to the seized sites were hit with a stern message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis domain has been seized,\u201d the sites now say in red capital letters, adding that the sites were taken over following a seizure warrant issued by New York State Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Bragg urged potential victims to come forward and contact his office\u2019s cybercrime bureau.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are a lot of people out there suffering in silence,\u201d Bragg said. \u201cThere are a lot of sites. There\u2019s a lot of work to be done, and we\u2019re prepared to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dozen website domains that unlawfully shared and sold sexually explicit \u201cdeepfake videos\u201d of celebrities, athletes and politicians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-346718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}