After several days at the center of controversy over the disclosure of sexual images of Taylor Swift generated with artificial intelligence, X (Twitter) has decided censor almost all searches related to the singer.
As confirmed from the social network to The Wall Street Journal, this is a temporary measure, although it was not specified how long it will last. Elon Musk’s company has also suspended or limited the posting capabilities of accounts reported for uploading deepfakes by Taylor Swift.
The head of commercial operations of X (Twitter), Joe Benarroch, told the aforementioned media that the blocking of the artist’s searches was carried out with “great caution” and prioritizing security in this matter. Her comments maintain the line of the statement that the platform published on Friday, due to strong criticism for the lack of action before the disclosure of the falsified photographs.
The controversy over deepfakes Taylor Swift porn
The first sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift appeared on X (Twitter) last Wednesday and were quickly replicated. Although the accounts that originally uploaded the material were reported, the photographs were uploaded again by other profiles, making their definitive removal very difficult.
The singer’s fans – and a large part of the general public – were quick to point out the shortcomings in content moderation on the social network. After all, the platform took around 17 hours to delete one of the many deepfakes Taylor Swift porn. By the time X (Twitter) had taken action, the image already had more than 47 million views and had been reposted more than 24,000 times.
The proliferation of these photographs was such that it led to the “Taylor Swift AI” became a trend, since this term gave easy access to dozens of the fakes in question. Although the social network has not confirmed it, the almost total blocking of searches related to Taylor Swift has surely been the only “effective” method of preventing this type of material from continuing to go viral.
Searches for the singer are blocked
The blocking of Taylor Swift-related searches on X (Twitter) was implemented on Saturday and remains active as of this writing. If you enter the artist’s name in the social network’s search engine, you will receive an error message in almost all available tabs.
“Something went wrong. Try reloading”, says the platform warning instead of showing results. This is seen in the “Featured” section, as well as in “Most recent” and “People”. The curious thing is that the “Photos and Videos” section does continue to show multimedia material linked to the singer. However, at least at first glance, they are photos, clips and GIFs of genuine posts that have nothing to do with the deepfakes for not.
The case has already generated strong debates within the technology sector. Elon Musk’s main critics were quick to point out that the case of Taylor Swift and her deepfakes Porn has been new proof not only of the growing toxicity on X (Twitter), but also of the unviability of its vision of creating a platform where anyone can publish whatever they want without suffering consequences.
In fact, the company has censored searches related to Taylor Swift to prevent the issue from it gets even more out of hand. A contradiction to the supposed principle of “absolute freedom of expression” that the magnate defends and promotes.
There have also been those who highlighted that the taking of measures by X (Twitter) has probably been a public relations strategy due to the popularity of the singer. After all, the deepfakes Pornographic images of thousands—or millions—of women circulate on the web daily, including this social network, without proactive measures being taken to prevent it.