Why are ‘deepfake porn’ tutorials still showing up in search engines?
A GLAMOUR investigation has found that the UK's most-used search engines are funnelling users towards explicit AI software and how-to guides. Search engines are showing guides for creating deepfakes, websites hosting non-consensual porn and suggestions for NSFW AI apps, despite new UK rules and tech platforms moving to tackle abusive deepfakes.
The Ecosystem of Tech-Facilitated Abuse
A GLAMOUR investigation has found that Google, Microsoft’s Bing and Yahoo search – the most-used search engines in the UK according to Statista – are funnelling users to pages of tutorials explaining how to make deepfake porn using face-swapping technology, purported explicit AI software and “undressing” apps in just a few clicks. Hundreds of listings across the search engines for free deepfake porn-making software, NSFW AI apps, guides and forums are also easily found with simple searches. Professor Clare McGlynn, a leading expert on tech-facilitated abuse, notes: “There is an entire ecosystem around the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes that has been allowed to proliferate.”
Corporate Measures and Platform Actions
In response to growing pressure, tech companies have introduced certain policies. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo don’t allow the sharing or creation of sexually intimate images of someone without their permission and have reporting and take-down procedures for victims. Recent efforts by these platforms are summarized below:
| Search Engine | Measures Taken |
|---|---|
| Google announced new measures to crack down on deepfakes in July, promoting news articles and non-explicit content over AI-generated content itself. | |
| Microsoft | Microsoft also outlined its approach in July to combat abusive deepfakes, and a partnership in September with StopNCII for a tool for people to protect their images on Bing. |
Legal Framework and Regulatory Gaps
Regarding current legislation, search engines are included under the Online Safety Act, which criminalises the sharing and distribution of deepfake porn and can result in a two-year sentence and being added to the Sex Offenders register – if intent to cause harm or distress is proven. Additionally, the previous government announced an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill in April, making the creation of deepfakes punishable with a criminal record and unlimited fines. This prompted two popular deepfake porn sites to block access in the UK; however, they are still accessible via search engines with a VPN.
Despite these steps, GLAMOUR’s investigation and the current ability to find deepfake material with search engines highlights “gaps and errors” in efforts, said McGlynn. They are reacting on an “ad hoc basis to claims being made and arguments for them to change things,” she said, adding that “The genie is out of the bottle and they’re responsible for that.”