Taylor Swift-Related Searches Blocked on X After AI-Generated Explicit Images Go Viral
People searching for anything Taylor Swift-related on X, formerly Twitter, are apparently out of luck as no results came up amid the large number of explicit AI-rendered images that surfaced earlier this week of the singer with Kansas City Chiefs fans.
Terms such as “Taylor Swift nude” or “Taylor Swift AI” aren’t bringing up results either, but regular phrases like “Taylor Swift singer” still bring some up. The block came after the White House spoke on the explicit AI images and told Congress to step in.
“We are alarmed by the reports of the… circulation of images that you just laid out – of false images to be more exact, and it is alarming,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told ABC News. “While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation, and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people.”
Jean-Pierre also highlighted some of the actions the administration has taken such as establishing a task force to address online harassment and abuse and the Department of Justice opening the first national 24/7 helpline for survivors of image-based sexual abuse.
The images that circulated online show the singer in red body paint in lewd positions with Kansas City Chiefs fans. On Friday, SAG-AFTRA also issued a statement on the images, stating they “are upsetting, harmful, and deeply concerning.”
“The development and dissemination of fake images — especially those of a lewd nature — without someone’s consent must be made illegal,” SAG-AFTRA said in its statement. “As a society, we have it in our power to control these technologies, but we must act now before it is too late. SAG-AFTRA continues to support legislation by Congressman Joe Morelle, the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, to make sure we stop exploitation of this nature from happening again. We support Taylor, and women everywhere who are the victims of this kind of theft of their privacy and right to autonomy.”
