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After Pornhub, Twitter bans deepfake videos that uses AI for swapping faces

The decision to ban this new genre of non-consensual fake porn is step in the right direction but the larger questions arises whether it will make the 'Deepfakes ' disappear

• By: Rakesh Jha |
• February 12, 2018 5:22 pm

Twitter has become the latest online platform to ban “deepfake videos” that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to superimpose celeb’s faces on the bodies of pornstars.

With its latest move, the micro-blogging site has joined the likes of social news aggregator, Reddit, and popular porn site Pornhub to suspend profiles that make use of the ‘deepfake’ videos.

“We will suspend any account we identify as the original poster of intimate media that has been produced or distributed without the subject’s consent,” a Twitter spokesperson told tech-news website motherboard in an email.

Thanks to the ubiquitous presence of pornographic communities and the easy access to online tools, it has become possible to rather convincingly make it look like movie stars have taken a step into the porn world or have had a past where they started out with porn.

For example, imagine an intimate scene between two porn stars getting easily swapped with any of your favourite stars. This is made possible through the face-swapping algorithm, according to experts, and its target is not just celebrities, as it potentially puts at risk anyone who puts their pictures online.

Unlike Facbook, Twitter allows adult content as long as they are marked as ” sensitive content”, but the social website’s intimate media policy does not allow deepfakes as they are generally uploaded without the consent of the targets.

Reddit, Pornhub bans deepfakes

Pornhub, the world’s largest website for porn content, has also banned ‘deepfakes’ saying “non-consensual content violates our [terms of service] and consists of content such as revenge porn.”

“Users have started to flag content like this and we are taking it down as soon as we encounter the flags. We encourage anyone who encounters this issue to visit our content removal page so they can officially make a request,” Pornhub told Mashable on the matter.

Recently, Reddit also denounced the algorithm and banned the primary subreddit for AI-assisted face swap videos and images.

In a statement, the website said, users are prohibited from posting images or videos of any person in a state of nudity or engaged in any act of sexual conduct without their permission, including depictions that have been faked.

Well, the scariest part is that these videos put at risk anyone who uploads a picture on the internet. The practise itself is not only morally questionable but derogatory as well. The decision to ban this new genre of non-consensual fake porn is step in the right direction but the larger questions arises whether it will make the ‘Deepfakes ‘ disappear. Perhaps not.

Because, scores of users don’t give two hoots about the moral issues at hand or the personal harm deepfakes can cause to the victim. If they don’t make these images and videos, they argue, someone else will.

A post in the now-deleted subreddit from user Gravity_Horse, according to The verge, said, “The technology is only becoming more and more advanced … People are going to be scared. And I genuinely sympathize with them. But since the technology can’t be uninvented, we have to advance with it.”