{"id":52649,"date":"2026-07-17T17:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=52649"},"modified":"2026-07-17T17:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:50:07","slug":"san-francisco-demands-removal-of-nudify-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/17\/san-francisco-demands-removal-of-nudify-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Demands Removal of Nudify Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Burgess<\/a> (MacRumors<\/a>, ArsTechnica<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, San Francisco city attorney David Chiu sent legal notices to Apple and Google demanding that they remove from their app stores 13 face-swapping apps, which allow users to create AI-generated nonconsensual nude images. The letters say the Silicon Valley giants should stop “aiding and abetting” the sale of explicit deepfake images and “sever” business relationships with the app developers.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Researchers have repeatedly found<\/a> and reported<\/a> apps in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store that allow people to generate sexual images using AI—including some apps being rated as suitable for use by children<\/a>. While new laws<\/a> and bans<\/a> aim to tackle the scourge of explicit deepfakes online, technology and social media companies consistently direct millions of people toward<\/a> the harmful tech.<\/p>\n

Both Apple<\/a> and Google<\/a> have developer policies that prohibit pornography, abuse, and harassment on their platforms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Burgess gives the impression, which is my base assumption, that these<\/em> 13 apps were clear about what they do, so App Review has no excuse for missing them. But I’m sure it’s keeping us all safe in other regards.<\/p>\n\n

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Meanwhile, in a preprint research paper published in May, researchers from Cornell University and Georgetown University identified 420 apps offering general face-swapping capabilities on Google’s and Apple’s app stores. They tested 155 to see if they could be used to create face swaps with nude images; in 70 percent of cases, it was possible, with the apps not including safety measures to prevent this.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n