Searching for Mr. Deepfakes: The Tip [Part 2]

**Laurie Segall** (0:00)
Before we get started, this episode contains talk of sexual abuse and sexual assault. Please take care while listening.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
She's one of the most high-profile politicians in the United States. But even-

**Laurie Segall** (0:13)
It's April 2024, and we're just setting out on our investigation into the man behind Mr. Deepfakes, the largest deepfake porn site. When it happens again.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:22)
But even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now become the target of an alarming and graphic online phenomenon. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Democratic Congresswoman is sharing the nightmare of discovering AI-generated pornographic images of herself on X.

**Laurie Segall** (0:42)
It's been just a few months since Taylor Swift's deepfake went viral.
AOC isn't the only public-facing woman to be newly victimized, but she is a powerful one. So CNN asks me to go on one of their nightly news shows to talk about the growing threat.
Now, what's a bit crazy about this moment is I'm not in New York right now. I'm actually in the field, in another country, chasing a huge lead. But more on that later.

**Roxy** (1:08)
Okay.

**Laurie Segall** (1:09)
It's kind of freezing.

**Roxy** (1:12)
Very fitting into the day.

**Laurie Segall** (1:14)
I'm currently in a satellite office. It's small, dark, quiet. And I have a second before I'll be patched in with the CNN news anchor Abby Phillips. So my producers and I chat about this weird kind of meta moment. We're literally here trying to track down the guy behind who's perpetuating this type of digital abuse. He's like ground zero for this type of thing. And then this blows up with AOC and it's going to start happening like at a rate that we can't even keep up with. This is the rate of technology.
Now, I'm experiencing this internal struggle. How much do I share about what I actually know about Deepfakes, the depth of abuse, how widespread it actually is? What happened to AOC, like Taylor Swift, is that she found one deepfake image of her going viral on X. But what I know is unfortunately, there is so much more of that.
If she were to go to Mr. Deepfakes right now, which Lord knows I will not say this on television, there are pages of sexually explicit deepfake pornography videos of her. She doesn't even know that millions of people are seeing.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:18)
But you're in an awkward position because you were talking about this at dinner. You mentioned it's like how to make a pipe bomb, right? Like how much do you want to say, hey, this is website and this is where the content is and this is how people are doing it.

**Laurie Segall** (2:31)
This is the problem when talking about deepfake pornography. By sharing the names of celebrities who are deepfaked or talking specifically about the technology, you can accidentally encourage people to go seek out those images or make their own. It's a fine line to walk, especially live on television.
So we decided to reference the problem without naming Mr. Deepfakes.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:54)
Laurie, good to see you on this horrible topic. This deepfake porn phenomenon, it's becoming more popular online, but it's also easier to make than ever before. Some sites are even offering tutorials on how to create this pornography.
You're actively investigating some of these sites behind this technology. What can you tell us about them?

**Laurie Segall** (3:15)
Yeah, I'm currently out here on an investigation into the anonymous person behind one of the largest deepfake pornography sites. And what I'll say is, Abby, it's not just about X and having an image come out on X. There are these sites that are operating in plain sight where millions, not hundreds, not thousands, millions of people are going every month to these sites to learn how to do this type of thing. And then what's happening, it's trickling out into the real world. We're seeing this in high schools. You now have apps just as easy as it is to order an Uber or order groceries. Now, there are apps that encourage young men to digitally undress their classmates with generative AI, and I think we're just scratching the surface on this.
It's a huge problem.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:59)
As a parent, I know actually a lot of parents who don't even put their kids' faces on social media. It almost makes you think that that might not be the wrong decision.

**Laurie Segall** (4:08)
Yeah, it's almost hard because parents don't even know that we need to have these conversations, that these conversations need to happen because not only are we creating a new generation of victims, but this type of technology when misused, is creating a new generation of abusers.