(Credit: Shutterstock / Brian Friedman)
X has blocked searches about Taylor Swift on the site after it became inundated with explicit, digitally fabricated images of the singer, The Wall Street Journal reports.
When searching for Taylor Swift on the site you’ll receive a “Posts not loading right now” message and a suggestion to “Try again later.”
Graphic fake images of Swift began to spread on the site on Wednesday. In response, Swift fans filled the site with legitimate photos of Swift in an attempt to bury the fake ones in searches. Swift fans also began flagging the accounts responsible for spreading fake images.
Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, told the Journal that the search blocking “is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue."
Many of the accounts responsible for spreading the fake images have reportedly been suspended or restricted in their posting, though some of the offending images remain. In another statement, an X representative said the site has a “zero-tolerance policy” for the content.
X was likely quick to respond due to Swift’s popularity. Less famous victims may have more trouble getting the content taken down. In addition to AI-generated images and deepfakes, sextortion is a growing issue on social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. With it, adults coerce children and teens to send sexually explicit images to them and then threaten them with wide distribution of those images if the victims don’t pay them.
CEOs from social media companies including Meta, X, TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord are expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31 to answer questions about their individual efforts to combat sextortion. Ahead of that hearing, Bloomberg reported that X plans to build a new “Trust and Safety center of excellence” in Austin, which will employ 100 full-time content moderators.