Taylor Swift’s name not searchable on X days after sexually explicit deepfakes go viral

Social media users may have noticed on Saturday that they can no longer search Taylor Swift’s name for X, days after a non-consensual sexually explicit deepfake of the singer went viral.

When I type Swift’s name in the X search box, I get a message that says “Something went wrong. Please reload.”

NBC News has reached out to Mr. X for comment.

This comes after deepfakes depicting Swift nude and sexual scenarios surfaced on Wednesday. Images can be created using artificial intelligence tools that develop new fake images, or by taking a real photo and “undressing” it.

The image’s origin is unclear, but it contained a watermark indicating it came from a website known for publishing fake nude images of celebrities. The website has a section dedicated to “AI deepfakes.”

The photo was viewed more than 27 million times and received more than 260,000 likes in the 19 hours before the account that posted it was suspended.

Many of Swift’s fans said the deepfake was removed due to a mass media campaign. X is called in the past This was due to the company’s failure to quickly take action against sexually explicit deepfakes that appeared on the site.

According to an analysis conducted by Blackbird.AI, which works on using AI technology to protect organizations from narrative-driven online attacks, the singer’s fans are more likely to respond to the hashtag “Taylor Swift AI” with positive comments about her. He said he was flooded with messages. She also started trending with the hashtag “Save Taylor Swift” on X.

Some users celebrated the removal of Swift’s name from X’s search feature. One user wrote that this was “the first step taken to protect her.”

“No more searching for AI photos of Taylor Swift. That AI creator will go to hell. We got Tay back,” the user posted on Saturday.

Another posted: “You can’t search for Taylor Swift on Twitter anymore. I’m kind of happy and kind of sad.”