Overview
- San Francisco’s city attorney has sent cease-and-desist letters demanding that Apple and Google remove a set of AI “nudify” apps and cut business ties with the developers behind them.
- Apple says it has removed three of the named apps, is terminating the developers’ accounts, and is working with four other developers to address policy violations.
- Google reports it suspended the five apps referenced by the city, has removed hundreds of similar apps from Google Play, and has restricted store searches for terms linked to nudify tools.
- Chiu’s letters cite California law that can impose civil penalties for services that facilitate nonconsensual intimate imagery and call for stronger automated and human review before apps go live.
- The push follows federal and state steps that criminalize nonconsensual intimate images and raises broader questions about platform responsibility for app distribution, payment processing, and repeated policy bypasses that harm victims.