The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized 12 websites that hosted sexually explicit deepfake content featuring the likenesses of about 1,200 people. The office said it believes the action marks the largest seizure of deepfake websites in history.
The sites used artificial intelligence tools to turn people’s photos into “hyper-realistic” images and videos showing them engaged in sexual conduct. The material allegedly included politicians, first ladies from multiple countries, actors, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates, and social media influencers.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the victims were mostly celebrities, but the harm reaches beyond public figures. “While the victims of these sites are largely celebrities, we know that anyone can be a victim in these crimes, particularly in domestic violence cases, many of our intimate violence cases involve threats to at least images and videos, and we know that deepfakes are being used in the same way,” Bragg said.
Seized Sites Drew Large Audiences
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not publicly named the websites. Ahead of Bragg’s Monday press conference, several homepages were replaced by takedown notices late last week. The notices read, “THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED,” and said the sites had been taken over after a seizure warrant issued by a New York State Supreme Court.
The websites were likely viewed millions of times. Many used names containing phrases such as “sex celebrity” or promised “real deepfakes,” while one site stated that “various actresses’ faces are used for deepfakes.” Archived versions show that some videos had been watched tens of thousands of times, and one website claimed it had been online since 2018.
The videos could run for several minutes and include fully sexually explicit scenes. Most followed the format of actual pornographic movies, with the faces of celebrities or other public figures digitally swapped onto the original actors. Benjamin Shultz described the material this way: “Most videos took the shape of actual pornographic movies, manipulated to instead show targets’ faces instead of the original actors.”
Many videos appeared to be reposts from MrDeepFakes.com, a notorious deepfake platform that shut down in May 2025 after its creators were unmasked by reporters. The shutdown followed an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Der Spiegel, and Bellingcat.
Politicians, Public Figures, and the Next Investigation
At least two of the seized websites gave elected officials profile pages listing their names and positions, followed by grids of manipulated videos using their likenesses. Fifty-six European politicians had been mentioned or appeared on the websites, including 16 politicians from the United States and two based in the United Kingdom.
The alleged targets also included royalty, journalists, television presenters, entertainers, and others. The material was not limited to fully nude or face-swapped videos. Slightly altered images of women who are public figures have also spread across social media sites like X.com, showing them in more revealing clothing than the original photo or video or changing their bodies with digital tools.
New York has had laws that specifically criminalize sexually explicit deepfakes since 2023. Bragg referenced that legislation when asked which law the office was using in the seizure. He also said the investigation is still examining whether images of minors appeared on the websites.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Bragg said.
That question adds another serious concern to an operation already focused on non-consensual sexual imagery. The sites did not simply host isolated altered pictures; they organized the material into searchable profiles, lengthy videos, and collections that could attract large audiences. Their structure made the abuse easier to find, watch, and share.
A Wider Crackdown on Synthetic Sexual Imagery
The Manhattan seizure follows other action against websites distributing digitally forged sexual material. In June, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security seized two domains used to publish thousands of altered images and videos showing famous women nude or engaged in sexual activity without their consent.
Those sites allegedly depicted politicians, first ladies from multiple countries, royalty, journalists, television presenters, athletes, entertainers, and others. The pattern shows how deepfake platforms can target people across public life, not only actors or social media personalities.
Other cases have shown that the people creating or sharing this material can face serious consequences. The first man in the country to be convicted of violating the Take It Down Act received a 15-year prison sentence after investigators found more than 3,000 real and AI-generated abuse images on his devices.
Leonie Oehmig called the latest seizures “a significant win in the fight against synthetic nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII).” The action also puts attention on a difficult part of the problem: removing a website does not erase copies that have already been downloaded, reposted, or placed on another platform.
For now, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has identified the scale of the operation but not the seized domains. Its investigation continues, including the question of whether minors were represented in the material, while New York’s 2023 law provides the legal basis Bragg cited for acting against sexually explicit deepfakes.
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