Overview
- Federal agents redirected the CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com domains to law‑enforcement banners after a judge found probable cause that the sites violated the TAKE IT DOWN Act, with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the DOJ executing the seizure.
- Prosecutors say the sites hosted hundreds of thousands of AI‑generated images and thousands of videos depicting identifiable women, including politicians and celebrities, and used abusive tags such as “rape,” “forced,” and “degradation.”
- Italian investigators opened the probe in October 2025 and shared evidence with U.S. authorities, while French police arrested a suspect in Nice on June 10 and seized cryptocurrency tied to the operation.
- The Justice Department calls this action one of the first public uses of the TAKE IT DOWN Act to take down distribution points and seize related assets, using the law's criminal penalties and forfeiture tools against operators.
- The seizure removes a major storefront but does not erase copies, models, or demand; victims are urged to use reporting resources such as StopNCII.org and law enforcement while the U.S., French, and Italian inquiries, forensic work, and possible prosecutions continue.