Pornhub, Reddit, Twitter Crack Down on AI-Generated 'Deepfake' Porn

Pornhub is set to ban fake porn videos that are created using artificial intelligence (AI) efforts, commonly known as 'deepfakes'. The porn site, which gets 75 million daily visits from all across the world and is a massive source of adult content, is set to treat deepfakes the same as "nonconsensual" videos, similar to "revenge porn". Pornhub's move comes amid the ongoing restriction imposed by social sites, including Reddit and Twitter, following in the identical steps taken by platforms such as Discord and Gfycat.

A Pornhub spokesperson stated that all the deepfake content, which majorly includes fake porn videos of celebrities created with machine learning algorithms, would be removed from the site. "We do not tolerate any nonconsensual content on the site, and we remove all said content as soon as we are made aware of it," the spokesperson told Motherboard.

It is worth noting here that in spite of releasing the statement, Pornhub hasn't yet imposed a complete ban on fake celebrity porn videos as it is widely available on the site simply by searching the keyword "deepfakes". However, as the statement reads, the objectionable content will be removed as soon as users flag it to make the Pornhub team aware of its existence. "We encourage anyone who encounters this issue to visit our content removal page so they can officially make a request," Pornhub VP Corey Price said in a statement to The Verge.

Alongside Pornhub, Reddit is moving to restrict access to fake porn videos by banning the r/deepfakes subreddit that had a vast number of AI-powered content. Reddit announced that it has made certain updates to its site-wide rules to block deepfakes that are being classified as a form of "involuntary pornography". The updated rules are aimed to prohibit the "dissemination of images or video depicting any person in a state of nudity or engaged in any act of sexual conduct apparently created or posted without their permission, including depictions that have been faked" - pointing towards deepfake content. The social site, which is often called as the "front page of the Internet", also urges its users to report the content that seems to violate the latest inclusion.

Notably, while Reddit has banned the r/deepfakes that had been a major source of fake porn content, the site is yet to restrict access to other similar subreddits, including r/fakeapp that offers a program to let anyone build fake videos by swapping faces of original characters. In a media statement, as reported by The Verge, Reddit highlights that it has split its original site-wide policy regarding involuntary pornography and sexual or suggestive content involving minors into two parts. "As of February 7, 2018, we have made two updates to our site-wide policy regarding involuntary pornography and sexual or suggestive content involving minors. These policies were previously combined in a single rule; they will now be broken out into two distinct ones. Communities focused on this content and users who post such content will be banned from the site," the company said.

Twitter is also cracking down on deepfakes as the microblogging site is set to suspend accounts involved in posting fake porn videos. In a statement to Motherboard, a Twitter spokesperson said, "We will suspend any account we identify as the original poster of intimate media that has been produced or distributed without the subject's content. We will also suspend any account dedicated to posting this type of content."