The White House has taken the rare step of addressing the scandal involving fake images of Taylor Swift being published and going viral on social media.
The Anti-Hero singer was the victim as sexually-explicit fake images of her, created using AI technology, spread across social media.
According to RadarOnline.com, the White House was “alarmed” to discover how quickly the images had been shared amid a rise in ‘deepfakes’, images that are artificially created using state-of-the-art AI image tools.
On Friday, the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the incident involving Swift, 34, with a statement urging social media companies to take stronger action.
“We are alarmed by the reports of the circulation of the… false images,” Pierre said during a press conference.
“While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people,” the press secretary continued.
“Sadly, though, too often we know that lax enforcement disproportionately impacts women and they also impact girls, sadly, who are the overwhelming targets of online harassment and also abuse.”
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Microsoft and X act quickly after fan pressure
After the fake images of the pop star went viral, Swift’s fans vented their fury over the failure to stop the circulation of the images.
The issue was highlighted on X, where posts featuring the images were largely removed after Swifties reported the explicit content. One particular image had reportedly been seen or viewed 27 million times on X.
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter which is owned by Elon Musk, pulled down the images. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it was important to “move fast” to shut down deepfakes as soon as possible.
“Yes, we have to act,” Nadella said to NBC News. “I think we all benefit when the online world is a safe world.
“And so I don’t think anyone would want an online world that is completely not safe for both content creators and content consumers. So therefore, I think it behooves us to move fast on this.”