Facebook (now\u00a0Meta) raised international eyebrows in 2016 when it\u00a0sought to dismiss\u00a0a lawsuit by a 14-year-old girl from Northern Ireland whose nude image was uploaded without her consent to a so-called \u201cshame page.\u201d It was a curious move by an organization that claims to\u00a0take these issues seriously.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Since then, advancements in technology have opened dangerous new doors for predators determined to weaponize social media by committing online acts of sexual violence. Yet Meta and other online platforms haven\u2019t changed their posture; in fact,\u00a0they\u2019ve lobbied Congress\u00a0to escape accountability for the behavior of bad actors on their networks.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
That 2016 case is ever-relevant today as social media companies enjoy\u00a0blanket protection\u00a0over the growing problem of AI \u201cdeepfakes\u201d \u2014 images of real people transformed into lifelike pictures and videos depicting them saying and doing things that never happened.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
There was a time, not long ago, when an altered picture \u2014 \u201cphotoshopped\u201d was the common term \u2014 could be spotted a mile away. AI\u2019s evolution has made detecting a real image from a doctored one nearly impossible.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Concern over AI deepfakes has largely focused on their use in perpetrating\u00a0election interference\u00a0in this year\u2019s U.S. presidential race. But they raise a more depraved problem that should scare all of us: deepfake pornography, where software programs accessible by a simple online search can turn an innocent image of an unwitting individual into a sexualized scene or video that can be posted online without consent.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Taylor Swift, along with\u00a0thousands of other celebrities, was the target of one. Innocent children are being victimized by it, too.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Not long ago a 14-year-old boy\u00a0notified the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children\u00a0that someone had threatened to post a deepfake pornographic image of him if he didn\u2019t pay the perpetrator ransom.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Another 14-year-old girl from New Jersey\u00a0told the New York Times\u00a0she was \u201csummoned\u201d to her school\u2019s assistant principal\u2019s office, where she was told some of her male classmates had used an AI program to turn a clothed picture of her into a naked image that was posted online.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
She recalled the shame she felt when boys started laughing at her in the hallway. Images of other girls at the school were altered and shared as well.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
One of the victims has\u00a0filed a lawsuit\u00a0against a male classmate allegedly involved. It\u2019s unclear if anyone was disciplined, but it\u2019s safe to say the boys at the school aren\u2019t laughing anymore.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Local, state and U.S. officials are behind the curve in addressing this problem.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cAll school districts are grappling with the challenges and impact of artificial intelligence,\u201d\u00a0read the uninspired statement\u00a0of Superintendent Raymond Gonz\u00e1lez in response to the New Jersey incident. A recently introduced state bill spurred \u201cdozens\u201d\u00a0of other deepfake victims to come forward.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Social media companies can do something about it, but some simply choose not to. The New York Times\u2019s Nicholas Kristof\u00a0found\u00a0that Google and Bing searches for deepfake pornographic content returned a high number of faked celebrity sex videos while Yahoo\u2019s search engine returned none. Comparatively,\u00a0a Google search on suicide\u00a0returned no results on how to commit the act but rather offered listings where people can go to get help.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words,\u201d Kristof\u00a0posits, \u201cGoogle is socially responsible when it wants to be, but it seems indifferent to women and girls being violated by pornographers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Social media companies have proven they can\u2019t police themselves, but Congress can.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
They can amend the\u00a0Communications Decency Act\u00a0to hold social media companies liable when deepfake pornographic images are published on their platforms. They can pass bills, such as the\u00a0Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act\u00a0and the\u00a0Shield Act, which would make the circulation of deepfake pornography a crime. They can pass the\u00a0Defiance Act, which would\u00a0enhance\u00a0deepfake pornography victims\u2019 rights.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
But Congress has gutlessly failed to act on any of these measures.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Social media platforms could be part of the solution. They could ally with victims and show leadership and compassion by enacting tougher measures to censor deepfake content. They could set an example by pushing for stricter laws and regulations to prevent faked sexual images from being searchable or uploaded on the networks they host.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Instead, they seek absolution of the problem. They\u00a0fight to protect themselves from liability\u00a0while victims are shamed on their platforms for something they never intended, and never authorized, that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Facebook\u00a0lost its attempt\u00a0in 2016 to have the case dismissed and wound up settling with the 14-year-old girl from Belfast. It should be a message to every other victim of revenge and deepfake pornography on these platforms: Sue them and hit them where it hurts.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
As long as Congress remains impudent in standing up to them and as long as social media companies fight tooth and nail to evade responsibility, victims should drown them in litigation.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Maybe then, and only then, they\u2019ll get the message that the burden is on them to solve this crisis.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Lyndon?Haviland, DrPH, MPH, is a distinguished scholar at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy.?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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Deepfake victims must punish Big Tech because Congress wont - The Hill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Facebook (now\u00a0Meta) raised international eyebrows in 2016 when it\u00a0sought to dismiss\u00a0a lawsuit by a 14-year-old girl from Northern Ireland whose nude image was uploaded without her consent to a so-called \u201cshame page.\u201d It was a curious move by an organization that claims to\u00a0take these issues seriously.\u00a0\u00a0 Since then, advancements in technology have opened dangerous new doors for predators determined to weaponize social media by committing online acts of sexual violence. Yet Meta and other online platforms haven\u2019t changed their posture; in fact,\u00a0they\u2019ve lobbied Congress\u00a0to escape accountability for the behavior of bad actors on their networks.\u00a0\u00a0 That 2016 case is ever-relevant today as social media companies enjoy\u00a0blanket protection\u00a0over the growing problem of AI \u201cdeepfakes\u201d \u2014 images of real people transformed into lifelike pictures and videos depicting them saying and doing things that never happened.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a time, not long ago, when an altered picture \u2014 \u201cphotoshopped\u201d was the common term \u2014 could be spotted a mile away. AI\u2019s evolution has made detecting a real image from a doctored one nearly impossible.\u00a0\u00a0 Concern over AI deepfakes has largely focused on their use in perpetrating\u00a0election interference\u00a0in this year\u2019s U.S Continue reading