The internet platform known for “deepfake” porn, Deepfakes, announced its closure on Monday.
The site featured a cartoon logo resembling President Trump holding a mask, amidst a collection of unconsensual deepfake videos.
This problematic type of pornography often employs artificial intelligence to swap the faces of real individuals, typically female celebrities, into existing video footage without their consent.
According to a German news source, Deepfakes hosted over 55,000 such videos.
A notice on the site stated, “Service providers have permanently shut down operations. Data loss has made continued operation impossible.” The message continued, “We will not relaunch. Sites claiming otherwise will eventually go offline and won’t be held accountable for future use. This notice will be removed in about a week.”
While some alternative adult sites and browsers attempt to block deepfake content, they still struggle to eliminate it entirely.
Despite this, Deepfakes garnered over 6 million visits each month, as reported last month by Der Spiegel. The site is said to have numerous videos, making it quite popular.
Details about the site’s operator remain vague; however, it has been reported that at least one individual involved is a 36-year-old man living near Toronto, who has a long history of working in a hospital.
Even with several states like New York and California implementing laws against such content, there is currently no federal legislation in the U.S. banning deepfake pornography.
Last year, Taylor Swift became notably targeted by this kind of explicit material, which has circulated on social media platforms like X.
The phenomenon first gained traction on Reddit in 2017 when users started sharing videos featuring swapped faces of female celebrities with existing adult film footage.
Reddit shut down its deepfake forum in 2018, which had attracted nearly 90,000 users by that time.
While sites like Pornhub have prohibited AI-generated content, Deepfakes managed to establish itself as a dedicated platform.
Users could upload their own content or request specific creations from others on the site. However, it has also become a go-to resource for sharing tips and techniques for creating and spreading unconsensual deepfakes.
