Manhattan DA Seizes 12 Domains Accused of Selling Celebrity Deepfakes
The court-backed action disabled a group of alleged abuse sites, while the people who operated them and supplied videos remain under investigation.
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3 key pointsManhattan prosecutors used New York seizure warrants to take 12 websites offline after linking them to sexually explicit deepfakes depicting roughly 1,200 people, mostly women. The sites allegedly used real faces in pornographic footage and included profiles of at least two elected officials. Operators and uploaders have not been identified, so the action is an infrastructure-level intervention rather than a...
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The seized domains were taken offline under New York criminal procedure laws and New York State Supreme Court warrants.
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The affected sites allegedly combined recognizable identities with explicit footage without consent; targets included influencers, actors, athletes, musicians, activists and public
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At least two sites reportedly profiled elected officials by pairing names and positions with manipulated videos.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized 12 web domains it says were used to unlawfully share, publish and sell sexually explicit deepfake videos of celebrities. The sites collectively depicted about 1,200 people, overwhelmingly women, in nonconsensual sexual images and videos.
The people depicted included social media influencers, actors, activists, athletes, musicians and politicians. The sites hosted explicit videos that placed celebrities’ or public figures’ faces into existing pornographic footage. The alleged material therefore tied recognizable identities to sexual content without consent.
A court order took the sites offline
The seizures were carried out under New York criminal procedure laws and followed seizure warrants issued by the New York State Supreme Court. Before the district attorney’s announcement, WIRED observed several affected homepages replaced with notices saying the domains had been seized.
The case has not named the alleged operators
The Manhattan DA has not publicly named the seized websites. Its investigation into the people responsible for the sites and those who uploaded damaging videos remains ongoing, so the seizure does not yet reveal who may face further enforcement.
The sites’ targets included public officials
- The American Sunlight Project said at least two seized sites kept profiles for elected officials, listing their names and positions alongside manipulated videos.
- That reported design made the fabricated videos easier to associate with a public figure’s real-world role.
A shutdown reaches only one layer
Leonie Oehmig, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, called the takedowns a significant win against synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery. She said the affected sites did not appear reachable through VPNs, but argued that effective intervention must also address the tools that create material, the channels that promote it, and the hosting, payment and affiliate systems used by operators.
Editorial analysis
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This is a notable use of criminal procedure against the distribution layer of synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery: prosecutors took control of domains rather than relying solely on victims to seek removal. But a domain seizure addresses one part of a business that researchers say can also depend on creation tools, promotion, hosting, and payment or affiliate systems. The next meaningful signal will be whether the Manhattan investigation publicly identifies operators or uploaders, or produces action beyond the seized domains. That would show whether this was a contained shutdown or a case that reaches the people sustaining the sites.
Sources
- wired.comNew York Seizes a Dozen Celebrity Deepfake Websites
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