Celebrity
Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back
NEW YORK — Pornographic deepfake photos of Taylor Swift are circulating online, making her the most visible victim of a problem that tech companies and anti-abuse organisations have struggled to address.
This week, sexually obscene and abusive, false photographs of Swift became viral on the social networking platform X.
Her devoted “Swifties” soon rallied, launching a counteroffensive on the platform formerly known as Twitter with a #ProtectTaylorSwift hashtag to flood it with more favourable images of the pop diva. Some said they were reporting accounts that were spreading deepfakes.
Reality Defender, a deepfake detection company, said it had tracked a flood of nonconsensual sexual material featuring Swift, particularly on X. Some photographs also made their way into Meta’s Facebook and other social media sites.
Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back
“Unfortunately, they spread to millions and millions of users by the time that some of them were taken down,” said Mason Allen, Reality Defender’s head of growth.
The researchers discovered at least a few dozen unique AI-generated photos. The most popular were football-related, depicting a painted or bleeding Swift, which objectified her and, in some cases, inflicted violence on her deepfake character.
According to researchers, the quantity of explicit deepfakes has increased in recent years as the technology for creating such images has become more accessible and user-friendly. These images primarily targeted women, according to a 2019 analysis by AI startup DeepTrace Labs. According to reports, the majority of the dead were South Korean K-pop singers and Hollywood actors.
Brittany Spanos, a senior writer at Rolling Stone who teaches a Swift course at New York University, says Swift’s fans quickly rally in favour of their artist, particularly those who take their devotion seriously and in cases of misconduct.
“This could be a huge deal if she does pursue it to court,” she said.
Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back
Spanos says Swift’s deep fake pornography issue is similar to others she has had in the past, citing her 2017 lawsuit against a radio station DJ who allegedly groped her; jurors awarded Swift $1 in damages, which her attorney, Douglas Baldridge, called “a single symbolic dollar, the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation” in the midst of the MeToo movement. (The $1 lawsuit became a pattern later, as seen in Gwyneth Paltrow’s 2023 countersuit against a skier.)
When asked for comment on the false Swift photographs, X linked The Associated Press to a post from its safety account, which stated that the firm strongly bans the distribution of nonconsensual nude images on its platform. Since Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022, the business has significantly reduced the size of its content-moderation teams.
“Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them,” the business stated in an X post early Friday morning. “We’re closely monitoring the situation to ensure that any further violations are immediately addressed, and the content is removed.”
Meanwhile, Meta stated that it strongly opposes “the content that has appeared across different internet services” and is working to remove it.
“We continue to monitor our platforms for this violating content and will take appropriate action as needed,” the business stated.
A Swift spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment Friday.
Allen stated that the researchers are 90% certain that diffusion models made the images, a generative artificial intelligence model capable of producing fresh and photorealistic images from written instructions. The most well-known are Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and OpenAI’s DALL-E. Allen’s group should have attempted to uncover the origins.
OpenAI stated that it had measures to prohibit the development of damaging information and “decline requests that ask for a public figure by name, including Taylor Swift.”
Deepfake Explicit Images Of Taylor Swift Spread On Social Media. Her Fans Are Fighting Back
Microsoft, which provides an image generator based partly on DALL-E, said Friday that it looked into whether its product had been abused. Like other commercial AI services, it stated that it does not allow “adult or nonconsensual intimate content, and any repeated attempts to produce content that goes against our policies may result in loss of access to the service.”
When asked about the Swift deepfakes on “NBC Nightly News,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told anchor Lester Holt in an interview broadcast Tuesday that there is still more work to be done in terms of establishing AI protections and that “it behoves us to move fast on this.”
“Absolutely, this is alarming and terrible, and so therefore, yes, we have to act,” Nadella said in a statement.
Midjourney, OpenAI, and Stability AI, the makers of Stable Diffusion, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Federal politicians who have submitted proposals to increase restrictions or criminalise deepfake pornography said the event demonstrates why the United States has to establish stronger safeguards.
“For years, women have been victims of nonconsensual deepfakes, so what happened to Taylor Swift is more common than most people realise,” said U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, a Democrat from New York who has presented legislation requiring producers to digitally watermark deepfakes.
“Generative-AI is helping create better deepfakes at a fraction of the cost,” Clarke said.
U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, another New York Democrat who is supporting a bill to criminalise the spreading of deepfake pornography online, said Swift’s situation was alarming and has grown increasingly common on the internet.
“The images may be fake, but the consequences are very real,” Morelle said. “Deepfakes are happening every day to women everywhere in our increasingly digital world, and it’s time to put a stop to them.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Darlington said police pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs.
“Scheffler was then walked over to the police car, placed in the back, in handcuffs, very stunned about what was happening, looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said, ‘Please help me,’” Darlington said. “He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation. It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”
Scheffler was released by police and returned to the course at 9:12 a.m. Around 9:30 a.m., he arrived at the practice area to the cheers of fans; one yelled “Free Scottie!” and more followed later wearing “Free Scottie” T-shirts.
Scheffler seemed normal, relaxed, sharing a few laughs on the driving range.
“I was never angry. I was just in shock,” Scheffler said. “I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
He could see from a TV in the jail that tee times were pushed back 1 hour, 20 minutes because of the traffic situation, and realized when an officer knocked on the door and said, “Let’s go,” that he had a chance to play.
He made birdie on his first hole of the day after sticking his approach shot to 3 feet.
Darlington, the ESPN reporter, said police were initially unsure who Scheffler was. He said an officer asked him to leave, and when he identified himself as being with the media, he was told, “There’s nothing you can do. He’s going to jail.”
Darlington said another police officer later approached with a notepad and asked if he knew the name of the person they put in handcuffs.
Scheffler said he never told police who he was except to say, “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get to my tee time.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
Louisville police have attracted negative national attention in recent years after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020 and a federal investigation into its policing practices.
A Department of Justice report released last year said Louisville officers use excessive force and conduct searches based on invalid warrants. The report said Black motorists in Louisville were more likely to be searched during traffic stops, and officers used neck restraints, police dogs and Tasers against people who posed no imminent threat.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot by officers who had come to her apartment with a warrant that federal officials later said was falsified.
PGA of America, which runs the PGA Championship, offered sympathies for Mills’ family and said, “As it relates to the incident involving Scottie Scheffler, we are fully cooperating as local authorities review what took place.”
AP – VOR News Image
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
Scheffler has won four of his last five tournaments, including his second Masters title. He has been home in Dallas the last three weeks, waiting for the birth of his first child, a son born May 8.
Scheffler is trying to become only the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year.
SOURCE – (AP)
CANNES, France — The Cannes Film Festival began Tuesday with the announcement of Greta Gerwig’s jury and the giving of an honorary Palme d’Or to Meryl Streep, as the French Riviera spectacle started its possibly tumultuous 77th edition.
The opening night picture, “The Second Act,” a French comedy starring Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard, will usher in a 10-day parade of stars down Cannes’ iconic red carpet. During the opening ceremony, Streep will get her honorary Palme.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
In the coming days, Cannes will debut George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed “Megalopolis,” and anticipated new films from Paolo Sorrentino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold, and Kevin Costner.
However, much of this year’s Cannes controversy has occurred off-screen.
French actor Judith Godrèche accused two film directors of rape and sexual assault when she was a teenager earlier this year, and the French film industry has been grappling with probably its defining #MeToo moment since. Godrèche’s short film “Moi Aussi” will premiere on Wednesday.
When asked about #MeToo’s expansion in France, Gerwig told reporters in Cannes on Tuesday that it is progressing.
“I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good,” Gerwig stated. “I’ve witnessed significant shift in the American cinema scene, and I believe it’s critical that we continue to broaden that conversation. So I believe it’s only advancing things in the right direction. Keep the lines of communication open.”
Gerwig, fresh off the success of “Barbie,” is president of the jury that will decide Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or. Thierry Fremaux commended her on Monday as “the ideal director” for Cannes, citing her ability to work in both arthouse and studio films and her passion for movie history. And, “We very much liked ‘Barbie.'”
Gerwig is joined on the jury by Lily Gladstone, star of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” French actor Eva Green, Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, French actor Omar Sy, Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
The jurors were asked how the numerous real-world concerns outside the festival would influence their decision-making. One film in competition, Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice,” portrays Sebastian Stan as a youthful Donald Trump. And Labaki was asked if she was thinking about the war in Gaza.
“I truly believe that one of the tools to really change something in the situation we all live in right now, which is a situation I think is not that great, is really through art and through cinema,” Labaki stated. “It may propose a more tolerant way of seeing things and seeing each other as human beings.”
“This is why I decided that I could be here without feeling guilty as a human being,” stated Favino. “Because if we look for beauty, then we might look for peace.”
Other fears are circulating this year’s Cannes. Festival workers, frustrated with short-term contracts that make them ineligible for unemployment benefits between events, have threatened to strike.
On Monday, Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof, whose film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” will be shown in competition at Cannes next week, said that he had escaped Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging. The film is described as a scathing depiction of the Iranian regime.
AP – VOR News Image
Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep
As Cannes continues, many will be fixated on the celebs who walk the festival’s iconic red carpet. Emma Stone, Anya Taylor-Joy, Demi Moore, Selena Gomez, Nicolas Cage, and Barry Keoghan will be among the cast. George Lucas will be presented with an honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony on May 25.
Regardless, the 77th Cannes Film Festival will have many expectations to meet. Last year’s festival, which was universally praised for its impressive roster, yielded three Oscar best picture nominees: “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” To help reignite last year’s spirit, Messi, the canine hero of “Anatomy of a Fall,” has returned to Cannes for a series of quick French TV advertisements.
A successful Cannes will help France maintain the global spotlight throughout the summer. The French Open, Tour de France, and Summer Olympics in Paris will all take place after the festival. On May 21, the Olympic flame will be carried to the Palais des Festivals, the festival’s focal point.
SOURCE – (AP)
NEW YORK — Actor Steve Buscemi is well after being hit in the face by a man on a New York City street, his publicist confirmed Sunday.
The 66-year-old star of “Fargo” and “Boardwalk Empire” was beaten late Wednesday morning in Manhattan and transported to a local hospital for bruises, swelling, and bleeding in his left eye.
Deadline – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city,” according to a statement from his publicist on Sunday. “He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes.”
The New York Post was first to report the assault.
salon – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
The New York Police Department issued a nameless statement regarding the assault on Wednesday. Steve’s representative confirmed Sunday that the anonymous assault victim in the police report was the actor.
According to the police department, no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
The Guardian – VOR News Image
Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City
Michael Stuhlbarg, Buscemi’s “Boardwalk Empire” co-star, was hit in the back of the neck by a rock while walking in Manhattan’s Central Park on March 31. Stuhlbarg chased his attacker, who was apprehended outside the park.
SOURCE – (AP)
Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard
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