Chinese-Linked Network Of More Than 400 AI Apps Hid Deepfake Porn Tools From Apple, Google

Hundreds of Chinese-linked artificial intelligence apps have been secretly hosting pornographic deepfake tools under big tech companies’ noses.

A network of 444 “nudifier” apps presenting themselves as tools for AI hair styling and pet portraits was actually discreetly allowing users to generate explicit deepfake content, according to a report by researchers at AI Forensics. Through the website domain, the products appeared to be operated by KeLing Technology Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, in addition to Chinese developers, WIRED reported Monday.

Twenty of the network’s apps were rated as suitable for children on Google Play’s store in September, the report stated.

AI Forensics examined Prilos, an AI hair salon app, and found that ByteDance’s model was used for image generation, while Alibaba’s model was used for video creation, the report states.

Meanwhile, the researchers discovered that users downloading Prilos through Meta ads were shown an explicit version of the application, according to the report. “Bedroom Rape,” “Lock Her Up,” and “Captive Cum Bag” were among the nonconsensual explicit templates available to users by submitting an image to the app.

Another app, Viefur, was promoted as an anthropomorphic pet photo tool before it was removed from Apple’s store after WIRED asked the company about the apps, the outlet reported.

‘Root Out The Bad Actors’

The nudify apps followed Apple’s policies for initial approval, but they later swapped approved content for explicit pornographic content and ran ads on Meta to promote it, Apple told the DCNF.

“When bad actors circumvent our stringent review process, we move quickly to remove the apps and terminate the developers behind them, as we did with all 19 of these,” the company told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “We will continue to work 24/7 to root out the bad actors who engage in this abuse.”

“This is an organized, commercially run operation: One operator behind hundreds of disposable apps and domains, cloaked to pass App Store review and pushed through tens of thousands of Meta ads under fake payer names,” Paul Bouchaud, a lead researcher at AI Forensics, told WIRED.