On Jan. 15, AI porn pictures of singer Taylor Swift began to circulate online. These graphic and offensive photos, depicting Taylor Swift in compromising situations, were created using AI technology.

Shortly after, the hashtag #PROTECTTAYLORSWIFT spread across the social media platform X.

The hashtag serves as a rallying point for fans to express their support for Taylor and condemn the creation and spread of the inappropriate content.

Swifties and other social media users were disgusted by the images and worked to take them down. Users are also calling for accountability against those responsible and highlighting the need for stronger protections against deepfakes in general.

What happened?

According to the publication Newsweek in a Jan. 25 article, the fake and inappropriate pictures of Swift originated on an anonymous AI celebrity porn website on Jan. 15. From there, it quickly spread to other platforms, including X.

X user FloridaPigMan posted the photos on the platform the same day, which has been removed for violating the platform’s post rules.

The photos include some of Swift at a Kansas City Chiefs game posing in a lewd manner. Her presence at Chiefs games due to her dating tight end Travis Kelce has caused both a media frenzy and angered numerous men online.

“Men who hate Taylor Swift for merely existing but ESPECIALLY for supporting her boyfriend are so silly. ‘Swifties find a better use of your time.’ Do you … realize you’re getting mad at a girl doing what all girlfriends/wives of sport players do? … Be mad at the NFL LMAO,” X user Catrina posted in a Jan. 21 post.

Swifties, the nickname for Swift’s fanbase, have been working across social media platforms to take down the photos and the accounts reposting them.

“Just because she’s a billionaire and famous doesn’t mean it’s okay to spread things like that of a person. it doesn’t matter who it is, it will never be okay to share things like that,” X user AGBeer13 said in a Jan. 25 post.

Other Swifties have been using the hashtag as well to promote her music and interactions with her fans in order for the timeline to be flooded with other positive Swift content, like X user WillNights in a Jan. 25 post.

This is not the first time that the hashtag has been used, with Swift receiving death threats and even people breaking into her houses while away on her “Reputation Stadium Tour” in 2018.

While it is rumored that Swift is considering legal action against the deepfake website, she has yet to publicly comment on the situation.

The work to stop deep fake porn’s growth

The situation with Swift speaks to a larger issue of deep fake porn targeting women online. An 2023 report from “Home Security Heroes” found that the top ten sites dedicated to deep fake porn had almost 35 million users in monthly traffic last year. The report also found that 99% of the people targeted in deep fake pornography are women and 94% of those featured in the videos work in entertainment.

More laws at the local level have come out to help stop the spread of deep fake pornography, like in New York in Oct. 2023. Violators of the law, signed into effect by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, can spend up to a year in jail, while those impacted can take legal action in civil court.

Rebecca Delfino, a law professor at Loyola Law School, stated in a 2023 interview with the publication WIRED that the best step forward “would be to amend 230 …’ referring to an infamous section of the Communications Decency Act that grants immunity to online platforms for the content their users generate. ‘But there are billions of dollars invested in keeping things as they are,’” they said.

The technology and AI behind these videos is becoming even more accessible. But advocates and those online are working to do what they can to stop it.

“If you don’t need to be a tech expert to make a deep fake porn, you don’t need to be a tech expert to fight it either,” Adam Dodge, founder of Ending Tech-enabled ABuse, said in a 2022 interview with the publication the Morning Brew.