Elon Musk’s X/Twitter Beefs Up ‘Trust & Safety’ Censor Squad After Taylor Swift AI Deepfake Fiasco

Searches for “Taylor Swift” and “Taylor Swift AI” on X returned error messages on Saturday and Sunday, but Elon Musk’s platform allows variations of search terms such as “Taylor Swift photos AI.” was.

X admitted that it was intentionally blocking search phrases for the time being.

In a statement sent to multiple media outlets, Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at “I was attacked,” he said.

President Joe Biden’s administration and mainstream news outlets have stepped up efforts to protect the left-wing pop star after a fake image of Taylor Swift went viral.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that she is “alarmed by reports of the circulation of false images” and that social media companies need to better enforce their own rules. said.

According to digital threat intelligence group Memetica, the first Swift deepfake appeared online on January 6th, but it has been circulating more recently. The images were created using an AI image generator like DALL-E, which can generate realistic fakes with simple text prompts.

In an attempt to do damage control, Musk’s company focused its “trust and safety” team’s efforts on child protection. “While X does not have a children-focused business, it is important that we make these investments to continue to deter criminals from using our platform to distribute and engage with CSE content. ” said X executive Joe Benarroch.

Researchers say blatant deepfakes have become more common in recent years as AI technology improves and becomes more accessible. Most of the victims are female entertainers and celebrities. The EU’s new digital services law requires platforms like X to suppress non-consensual and abusive content.