THE HILL
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has blocked searches of pop superstar Taylor Swift after explicit, artificial intelligence (AI) generated images went viral on social media, an executive confirmed Sunday.
As of Sunday night, searches of “Taylor Swift” on the social media platform showed the error message, “Something went wrong. Try reloading.”
Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, confirmed the move to The Hill.
“A temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue,” Benarroch said in a statement Sunday.
Fake sexually explicit images of Swift circulated online last week, prompting backlash from fans, who flooded the platform with positive photos of the singer with the #ProtectTaylorSwift hashtag.
Deepfake-detecting group Reality Defend said it tracked several nonconsensual pornographic materials depicting Swift, which spread to “millions and millions” of users by the time some were taken down, Mason Allen, Reality Defender’s head of growth, told The Associated Press.
The images were mostly found on X, though some were found on Meta-owned Facebook and other social media platforms, the news wire added.
