A Canadian man hoped his identity would remain hidden from the world despite joining in on an online campaign that circulated explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift. Unfortunately for him, that was not the case, and he’s been dealing with a heap of drama ever since.
The racy images surfaced on social media on Wednesday, Jan. 24. They featured AI-generated illustrations of Swift in explicit and offensive poses while at a Kansas City Chiefs game. The original shots were snapped during the season while she attended a game to support her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The pop star’s fans quickly mobilized to defend her honor once the offensive pictures popped up and taught him a lesson about what happens when one uses artificial intelligence the wrong way.
Though he did not admit to being the creator of the lewd imagery, one X user, @Zvbear, took credit for sharing some of the digitally created pornographic images on the platform.
“My Taylor post went viral and now everyone is posting it,” he wrote, according to Newsweek.
“Bro what have I done,” he said in a follow-up post. “They might pass new laws because of my Taylor Swift post. If Netflix did a documentary about AI pics they’d put me in it as a villain. It’s never been so over.”
He then mocked her fans, the Swifties, who threatened him to take the posts down.
“I don’t care how powerful Swifties are, they’ll never find me,” @Zvbear declared. “I’m like the Joker I use fake numbers and addresses.”
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: Taylor Swift fans are blaming the AI images of her that went viral yesterday on my friend Zvbear, they have been doxing him, attempting to get him arrested and even murdered. Swifties should be held accountable for this unreal behavior. pic.twitter.com/N5N29QUH9X
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) January 25, 2024
Fans of the beloved pop star took action and pledged to bring everything to a halt for their beloved queen. This served as a lesson, illustrating that, much like Beyoncé has the Beyhive and Nicki Minaj has the Barbs, the “Shake it Off” singer’s online force wields comparable power.
Taylor’s techie fans claim they have uncovered @Zvbear’s identity, saying he is a 27-year-old Toronto man often known for trolling and posting risqué content on platforms like 4chan, X, and Reddit.
They also started a hashtag #ProtectTaylorSwift, where they countered the fake images with positive pictures of the chart-topper.
She’s goes to support her boyfriend at his games but you Brads and Chads are so fucking pathetic you had to make explicit pictures of her. LEAVE TAYLOR ALONE #PROTECTTAYLORSWIFT pic.twitter.com/SkLtBI2wj9
— Grace (Taylor’s Version) (@SiameseSwift07) January 25, 2024
Swift’s lawyers have also been ignited and are considering legal action.
The White House weighed in on the scandal, calling the images “alarming.”
“We know that incidences like this disproportionately impact women and girls,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said. “@POTUS is committed to ensuring we reduce the risk of fake AI images through executive action. The work to find real solutions will continue.”
The circulation of false images of Taylor Swift are alarming. We know that incidences like this disproportionately impact women and girls. @POTUS is committed to ensuring we reduce the risk of fake AI images through executive action. The work to find real solutions will continue. pic.twitter.com/IOIl9ntKtP
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) January 26, 2024
On Friday, Jan. 26, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also commented about the singer being violated, also calling the act “alarming.”
“Yes, we have to act,” Nadella said in a conversation with NBC News’ Leslie Holt. “I think we all benefit when the online world is a safe world. And so I don’t think anyone would want an online world that is completely not safe for both content creators and content consumers.”
These images are not the only deepfake images of Swift floating around on the Internet.
One X account profile for @FloridaPigMan posted some of the lewd images on Monday, Jan. 22, but pulled them down after receiving a notice that they violated the social media platform’s code of digital conduct rules.
Sexually explicit images of the Pennsylvania native were posted on the website Rule 34 in November 2023 and on the porn website Planet Suzy in December 2023. The pictures were still up on the site at the time of publishing of this article.
In May 2023, Rep. Joseph Morelle, a Democrat from New York, introduced the “Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act” to safeguard online privacy in response to the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence and digitally altered content. The bill has not passed, and Morelle is currently recruiting more lawmakers to stand with him.
“Intimate deepfake images like those targeting Taylor Swift are disturbing, and sadly, they’re becoming more and more pervasive across the internet. I’m appalled this type of sexual exploitation isn’t a federal crime—which is why I introduced legislation to finally make it one,” Morelle said.
Adding, “The images may be fake, but their impacts are very real.”
