Federal prosecutors arrested two men for making explicit deepfakes of celebrities

Two men have been officially charged with a federal crime after they were caught generating and publishing AI deepfakes of female celebrities.

Federal prosecutors arrested two men in conjunction with a criminal complaint that both separately made sexually explicit AI content that was viewed by millions of users online. The content featured female politicians, musicians, singers, and private photos of women known to one of the accused.

The two men face up to two years in prison.

The men are being tried under President Donald Trump's Take It Down Act, which criminalizes publishing or threatening to publish nonconsensual intimate imagery including AI generated pornography featuring real individuals. The bill, backed by First Lady Melania Trump and several major organizations addressing sexual cyber crime and child sexual abuse, went into effect exactly one year ago.

At the time, many experts questioned how the act would actually be enforced under the Federal Trade Commission, specifically calling attention to removal procedures and redress for victims themselves. Others worried that the bill's broad guidelines would be contested on free speech grounds.

Last month, the Take It Down Act nabbed its first conviction, after an Ohio man pleaded guilty to harassing women with nonconsensual AI images and videos depicting them in sexual acts, as well as generating child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) using the technology.

"This case makes clear that posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime," U.S. attorney Joseph Nocella said following the arrests.