Two of the biggest deepfake porn websites have started blocking people trying to access them from the UK. The move comes days after the UK government announced plans by a new law that will criminalize the creation of non-consensual deepfakes.
Non-consensual deepfake pornography websites and apps that “remove” clothing from photos have been growing at an alarming rate, causing untold harm to the thousands of women they are accustomed to.
Clare McGlynn, a professor at Durham University Law School, says the move is a “hugely significant moment” in the fight against deepfake abuse. “This puts an end to the easy access and normalization of deepfake sexual abuse material,” McGlynn tells WIRED.
Since deepfake technology emerged in December 2017, it has been consistently used to create non-consensual sexual images of women, swapping their faces in pornographic videos or allowing new “nude” images to be generated. As technology improved and became easier to access, hundreds of websites and apps were created. More recently, schoolchildren have been caught creating nudes of classmates.
Blocks on deepfake websites in the UK were detected for the first time today, with two of the most prominent services displaying notices on their landing pages stating that they are no longer accessible to people visiting the country. WIRED is not naming the two websites because they allow abuse.
One of the websites with this restriction is the largest deepfake porn website that exists today. On its home page, when you visit from the UK, it shows a message saying access is denied. “Due to laws or (upcoming) legislation in your country or state, we are unfortunately required to deny you access to this website,” the message reads. It also shows the visitor’s IP address and country.
The other website, which also has an app, displays a similar message. “Access to the service in your country is blocked,” she says, before hinting that there may be ways to get around the geographic restriction. The websites do not appear to have restrictions on visits from the United States, although they may also be restricted in other countries.
It is not immediately clear why the sites have introduced location blocks or whether they have done so in response to legal orders or notices. It is also unclear whether the blockages are temporary. Messages sent to the websites, via email addresses and contact forms, went unanswered. The creators of the websites have not posted any public messages on the websites or their social media channels about the blocks.
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has the power to take action against harmful websites under the UK’s controversial and sweeping online safety laws that came into force last year. However, these powers are not yet fully operational and consultation is ongoing.
The restrictions are likely to significantly limit the number of people in the UK seeking or attempting to create deepfake sexual abuse content. Data from Similarweb, a digital intelligence company, shows that the larger of the two websites had 12 million global visitors last month, while the other website had 4 million visitors. In the UK, they had around 500,000 and 50,000 visitors respectively.