The internet is full of deepfake videos, many of which are nude.
According to a report by Home Security Heroes, deepfake porn accounts for 98% of online deepfake videos. Thanks to easy-to-use, freely available generative AI tools, the number of online deepfakes has skyrocketed by 550% between 2019 and 2023. Many of them are non-consensual.
Laws against non-consensual deepfakes lag behind, at least in the United States, but a new tool in Google Search is making it a little easier to take them down.
Google has recently introduced changes to its search, including adjusting its ranking algorithm to combat deepfake porn in searches. The company has also introduced a faster way to process requests to remove non-consensual deepfake porn results from searches.
Here's how to use it:
Request for deletion Request
The easiest way to request that deepfake non-consensual porn results (webpages, images, or videos) be removed from Google Search is to use this web form. There is a separate form for child sexual abuse imagery, and the content must meet Google’s removal criteria, including:
- If it contains nudity, intimacy, or sexually explicit content (e.g., your own image or video) and is distributed without permission, or
- If it is fake or falsely depicts you as being naked or in a sexually explicit situation, or
- It wrongly associates you or your name with sex work.
Click on the option “Content contains nudity or sexual content” and proceed to the next page.
At this stage, select “The content falsely depicts me in a sexual act or intimate situation (this is sometimes known as “deepfake” or “fake porn”).”
On the last page of the form, you will be asked to enter your name, country of residence, and contact email, and then indicate whether the person depicted in the deepfake content you wish to remove is you or someone else. Google allows others to remove content on someone else’s behalf, but only if they are an “authorized agent” who explains how they have the authority to do so.
Next is the content information section. Here, you will need to provide the URLs of the deepfake results you want to remove (up to 1,000), the URLs of Google search results where the content appears (also up to 1,000), and the search terms that return the deepfake. Finally, you will need to upload at least one screenshot of the content you are reporting, along with any additional information that may help explain the situation.
Steps after submitting a request
Once you submit your request, you will receive an automatic email confirmation. After your request is reviewed, Google may request additional information (such as additional URLs). You will be notified of any actions taken, and if your request does not meet Google’s removal requirements, you will receive a follow-up message explaining why.
Denied requests may be resubmitted with new supporting materials.
Google says that when someone successfully requests that non-consensual deepfake porn results be removed from a search, the company’s systems attempt to filter out explicit results from all similar searches about that person. Google also says that when an image is removed from a search, its systems scan for duplicates of that image and remove them, as per Google’s policy.
“These protections have already proven successful in handling other types of non-consensual imagery, and we’ve now built the same capabilities into fake explicit images,” Google wrote in a blog post. “These efforts are designed to give people more peace of mind, especially if they’re worried about similar content popping up about them in the future.”
