X, formerly known as Twitter, is lagging behind competing platforms TikTok and Instagram when it comes to restricting the reach of so-called “nudify” services that create non-consensual porn by “undressing” individuals using AI, Motherboard has found.
On December 8, Bloomberg reported that nudify apps are soaring in popularity across the internet in part due to rampant promotion on social media platforms. In response to journalists’ questions, TikTok and Meta both began blocking search terms related to nudify apps. At the time, Bloomberg reported that X did not respond to a request for comment, as is standard for the company since it was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk.
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A week later, X has still not implemented similar controls on its platform. Searching “undress” on TikTok brings up no results either in the “Top” or “Videos” tabs. Instead, the platform warns users that the phrase may be associated with activity that violates the platform’s guidelines. Searching the same term on Instagram similarly brings up no results. Searching “undress” on X, however, readily surfaces a verified account with nearly 20,000 followers promoting nudify app services. X’s results initially say “including results for ‘endress’” and prompt the user to “search instead for ‘undress,’” but this appears to have no effect on the search results.
Searching “undress AI” on TikTok also brings up no results and a warning that the term is linked to behavior that violates content guidelines, whereas the same term on X brings up numerous tweets in the “latest” tab from accounts promoting nudify services. Notably, Meta’s restrictions appear to be imperfect; while searching “undress” is blocked, searching “undress AI” surfaces accounts seemingly promoting nudify apps.
In addition to the unrestricted search function, numerous users on X complained this week of ads for nudify apps popping up on their timelines, frequently from accounts that feature NFT profile pictures and strings of numbers in their handles, typically indicating a bot rather than a human user. “Love to see X advertisements promoting AI porn generators to help you ‘undress any girl,’” one user wrote on Thursday, attaching a screenshot of an ad. “So fucking creepy.”
Another user posted a screenshot of an ad that they encountered on the timeline of Kirk Herbstreit, an ESPN sportscaster with 1.6 million followers on X. “Twitter literally allowed a DeepFake AI nude generator to advertise on the profile page of ESPN’s most prominent college football personality,” the user wrote. “A verified account with 1.6 million followers.”
When reached for comment, X sent back a boilerplate auto reply saying, “Busy now, please check back later.”
