Ethical Hacking News
New York has successfully seized 12 celebrity deepfake websites in the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, targeting around 1,200 victims and marking a significant milestone in the global fight against this growing menace.
Manhattan District Attorney's Office seized 12 celebrity deepfake websites, targeting around 1,200 victims, mostly women. The seizure was the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, hosting false videos of famous celebrities. Many of the websites claimed to have been online since 2018, hosting realistic and explicit deepfake videos. The takedowns are a significant win in the fight against synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII), but there are still many parts of the deepfake industry causing harm. The seizure may have been used to harass or extort politicians, with 56 European politicians mentioned on the seized websites. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is investigating who is responsible for the websites and those who uploaded damaging videos of victims.
In a landmark operation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has successfully seized 12 celebrity deepfake websites, marking a significant milestone in the global fight against this growing menace. The crackdown, which has been described as the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, targeted around 1,200 victims, with the majority being women, including social media influencers, actors, activists, athletes, musicians, and politicians.
The seizure of these 12 websites, which were allegedly used for "unlawfully" sharing, publishing, and selling celebrity deepfake videos, has sent a clear message to the perpetrators of this dark industry. The websites, which were likely viewed millions of times, hosted false videos of some of the world’s most famous celebrities, with one of the websites claiming to have been online since 2018. The images and videos were increasingly realistic, with some videos taking the shape of actual pornographic movies, manipulated to instead show targets’ faces instead of the original actors.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not publicly named the websites it has seized, but ahead of the announcement, WIRED independently observed several of the sites’ homepages being replaced by takedown notices—“THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED”—late last week, with the sites now saying they have been taken over following a seizure warrant issued by a New York State Supreme Court. This move has been hailed as a significant win in the fight against synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII), with researchers and experts hailing the takedowns as a crucial step towards tackling the deepfake industry.
According to Leonie Oehmig, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), the takedowns are a significant win, but there are many other parts of the deepfake industry that are causing serious harm. "Effective intervention needs to target the ecosystem at multiple points, including the tools used for the creation of synthetic NCII, the discovery and promotion of these, the hosting and technical infrastructure that keeps them online, and the payment and affiliate systems that enable operators to monetize them," she says.
Benjamin Shultz, the lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project, a nonprofit, notes that many videos appeared to be reposts of content that had originally be shared on the MrDeepFakes website, a notorious deepfake platform that was taken offline after its creators were unmasked by reporters. On at least two of the seized websites, elected officials were given profiles containing their name and position, along with a grid of manipulated videos hosting their likeness.
The impact of this seizure cannot be overstated, with 56 European politicians having been mentioned or appeared on the websites, including 16 US politicians and two based in the UK. While Oehmig, the ISD researcher, says the takedowns are encouraging, there are many other parts of the deepfake industry that are causing serious harm.
The seized websites were likely viewed millions of times, with many using names that included phrases such as "sex celebrity" or promised "real deepfakes." They were allegedly used for "unlawfully" sharing, publishing, and selling celebrity deepfake videos, which included fully sexually explicit scenes—often swapping the faces of celebrities or public figures into existing pornographic videos.
The seizure of these 12 websites has sent a clear message to the perpetrators of this dark industry, with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office urging potential victims to come forward and contact their cybercrime bureau. The office says its investigations into who is responsible for the websites, plus those who uploaded damaging videos of victims, are ongoing.
The takedown of these 12 websites is a significant milestone in the global fight against deepfakes, with many experts hailing it as a crucial step towards tackling this growing menace. While there are many other parts of the deepfake industry that are causing serious harm, this seizure has sent a clear message that those responsible will be held accountable.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/New-Yorks-Bold-Strike-Against-the-Deepfake-Industry-A-Comprehensive-Takedown-of-12-Harmful-Websites-ehn.shtml
https://www.wired.com/story/new-york-seizes-a-dozen-celebrity-deepfake-websites/
Published: Mon Sep 14 12:28:20 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
