Overview
- The Manhattan District Attorney announced on Monday, September 14, 2026, that his office seized the domain names of 12 websites alleged to have published and sold AI-generated nonconsensual sexual videos.
- Prosecutors say the sites used AI to turn existing photos and videos of roughly 1,200 people into hyper‑realistic sexual images and clips, with victims overwhelmingly women and many public figures.
- The D.A.’s office called the action the largest known seizure of celebrity deepfake sites to date and said the investigation is ongoing while urging survivors to contact its Cyber Crime Bureau for help.
- Independent research has documented how the deepfake ecosystem includes profile or “gateway” pages that link to nudifier tools and make it easy to generate new nonconsensual images, with women politicians disproportionately targeted.
- Experts and advocates say takedowns are a meaningful enforcement step but that durable progress will require coordinated cross‑jurisdiction action and measures that target creation tools, hosting infrastructure and payment networks.