Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced on September 14, 2026, the “seizure of 12 domain names of illegal websites used for unlawfully disseminating, publishing, and selling non-consensual celebrity ‘deepfake’ videos.” According to the press release, the individuals under investigation:
[A]llegedly used artificial-intelligence (‘AI’) image and video creation tools to turn pre-existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people into what appear to be hyper-realistic images and videos of those individuals engaging in sexual conduct. They then used these websites to disseminate, publish, and sell these videos and other similar non-consensual intimate imagery (‘NCII’).
In announcing the seizure, Bragg stated,
[Twelve hundred] individuals had their faces and bodies stolen and turned into illegal pornography on 12 different websites – without their knowledge or consent – and today, my Office is announcing that we have seized these websites pursuant to a court order. These horrific violations of privacy follow victims into their careers and personal lives and take an immense toll on emotional and mental wellbeing…Our investigations into these websites and similar operations are ongoing. If you have been a victim, I want you to know that we are here to help. Please contact our Cyber Crime Bureau at 212-335-9600.
This is encouraging news for victims, and I applaud DA Bragg for his effort to combat this horrible problem. If you have been a victim of a deep fake, call the Manhattan DA’s Office, or the consumer division of your Attorney General’s office, depending on where you live. If victims come forward and assert pressure to prosecute those disseminating deep fakes, perhaps a dent can be made to stop them from proliferating and harming victims.