Tumblr Platform to Ban ‘Deepfakes’ Porn, as Well as ‘Creepshots’ (AVN)

Read the full article by Michael French at AVN.com

Verizon-Owned ‘Microblogging’ Platform Cracks Down On Non-Consensual Sexual Images

CYBERSPACE—Eight months after the online forum Reddit, where so-called “deepfakes” porn videos first appeared, began removing the artificial intelligence fake porn videos from the site, the social media platform Tumblr has finally announced a crackdown on non-consensual sexual images on the “microblogging” site.

“Posting sexually explicit photos of people without their consent was never allowed on Tumblr,” the site wrote in a statement posted this week. “But with the invention of deepfakes and the proliferation of non-consensual creepshots, we are updating our Community Guidelines to more clearly address new technologies that can be used to humiliate and threaten other people.”

“Deepfakes” are forged porn clips generated by widely available AI apps, in which the face of an unsuspecting person, usually a celebrity, is realistically superimposed onto existing porn footage. Neither the celebrities nor the performers in the underlying porn videos consent to the use of their likenesses, generally.

The “creepshots” mentioned in the Tumblr statement are a different issue, but also involve non-consensual images. “Creepshots” are photos taken of women in public places without their knowledge in poses that inadvertently appear sexual.

“A creepshot is focused on women’s clothed bodies. Images are sexually suggestive rather than sexually explicit,” The Conversation site explained.

According to a report by The Daily Dot, when Yahoo! bought the Tumblr platform in 2013, it began pressuring the site to remove sexually explicit content—but because porn has an enthusiastic following on Tumblr, the adult-content sections of Tumblr continue to thrive.

The new Tumblr rules are set to take effect on September 10.