DeepNude Shuts Down After Public Outrage Over App That “Undresses” Women

Deepfake technology has been steadily improving ever since it first came to the public’s attention in 2017, with incidents involving celebrities like Daisy Ridley, Emma Watson, Gal Gadot and more. Now, in 2019, the worst use of it so far has appeared in DeepNude.

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This app uses deepfake technology to “undress” women in photos by replacing their clothing with breasts and a vulva. This opened up a whole new world of terrifying possibilities; fake revenge porn, blackmail material and more were much more possible and easy to access thanks to the app.

Katelyn Bowden, founder and CEO of revenge porn activism organisation Badass, told VICE’s Motherboard: “Now anyone can find themselves a victim of revenge porn, without ever having taken a nude photo. This tech should not be available to the public.”

While the digitalised images don’t depict the actual person’s body, it’s still a traumatising and humiliating situation to be put in. This also increases the possibility for fake news, by making it easier to manipulate and create false images to paint others in an unflattering light.

So I, personally, am glad that the app has been taken down by the creator. But I still wish that it was never even created in the first place. Now that the world knows about this idea, it’s only a matter of time before other people will come out with their own take on the app.