I found twisted videos of myself online and people think it’s real – this can happen to anyone… it’s utterly terrifying
TYPING her name and ‘deepfakes’ into Google, Sweet Anita was bombarded with such horrifying videos that she “wished for eye bleach”.
The British Twitch star, 32, who has 1.9million followers, is the latest in a string of high-profile female streamers whose images had been used without consent to make fake pornography.
Deepfakes technology has exploded in popularity in recent years and, chillingly, some have used it to create degrading X-rated videos featuring unsuspecting women including A-listers like Scarlett Johansson and Gal Gadot.
Sweet Anita, born in East Anglia, found “horrific” clips of her image superimposed into pornographic movies and fears the sick videos could haunt her forever.
The star, who does not share her real name, tells The Sun: “You could deepfake anyone. Anyone from any walk of life could be targetted by this and it feels like people don’t give a s***.
“I have never made a single drop of sexual content in my life but now they just assume that I have and I must want this.
“It’s not easy to differentiate this from reality. If people see this video in 10 or 20 years’ time, no one will know whether I was a sex worker or this was a deepfake.
“It could potentially get you fired from jobs in the future if people think you’ve done sex work and it affects your security, how people treat you and you are stigmatised.
“This will impact my life in a similar way to revenge porn, so I’m just frustrated, tired, and numb.
“This was nonconsensual and the impacts are permanent.”
Deepfakes searches surge by 1,000%
Sweet Anita became aware of the videos after another streamer Brandon Ewing, known as Atrioc, accidentally shared a link to a deepfake video site while live streaming last month.
The site contained deepfake movies involving a number of Twitch stars, and Atrioc’s revelation sparked a furious online backlash.
Later, in a tearful video alongside his wife Arianna, he apologised to women branding his actions “gross” and “embarrassing”.
The apology appeared in Sweet Anita’s newsfeed and after Googling her name, she was horrified to discover multiple videos had been made of her.
In January alone, Google searches for ‘deepfake porn’ soared by more than 1,000 per cent, according to Scams.info.
In the week after Sweet Anita and others discovered they had been targeted, searches for ‘how to make a deepfake’ rose by 120 per cent – while the search term ‘are deepfakes illegal’ soared by 5,000 per cent.
Waves of abuse
Sweet Anita says the fake X-rated videos are the latest in a long line of degrading abuse against her and other female content creators, who are regularly sexualised by fans.
She told us: “Before deepfakes, people had been photoshopping still images to have my face on porn.
“People have amassed huge collections of clips of me getting up and walking away from the camera during live streams to look at my body, even though it’s clothed.
“There are people who make whole Reddit forums just to roleplay as me, where they are like, ‘I’m going to pretend to be Sweet Anita, do you want to do spicy DMs with me?’
“There have been whole communities of thousands who get together to sexualise me, I did not consent to any of it.
“It’s one extra thing in an endless and exhaustive list that female content creators have to take on that are traumatising, take thousands of pounds to address and require therapy to deal with.”
‘It’s not fantasy, it’s permanent’
The streamer is also frustrated about the laws – or lack of them – surrounding deepfake technology, claiming cases are “not taken seriously” and often involve lengthy and costly legal action to remove content.
Legal expert Ron Moscona, of London’s Dorsey & Whitney, describes the current landscape as “very messy” and acknowledges little can be done.
He told us: “You can still make a complaint about a deepfake being circulated on social media or search engines and demand they remove it but it’s not always easy.
“It’s also difficult to get financial compensation when you can’t identify the instigator or if they are anonymous.”
Ron is hopeful the Government’s Online Safety Bill, which is currently in the House Of Lords, could “provide an extra layer of protection” for victims.
He said: “It’s not designed specifically for deepfakes but will force social media and search engine operators to stop unlawful material surfacing – previously they would only respond to complaints.”
Sweet Anita claims there is a “lack of empathy” among many online too, with some “blaming women” for the content being out there and others belittling it as fans’ “sexual fantasies”.
She added: “They don’t seem to think through what’s happened to us is a reality, they just see it as women complaining about being objects of sexual fantasies.
“It’s really, really difficult but the greatest challenge so far has been trying to explain to people the real genuine impact on people’s lives and how permanent it is too.
“It’s non-consensual, nobody did anything to bring it on themselves and they just have to live with consequences now.”
Apology ‘too little too late’
The unnamed deepfake pornography creator has since apologised, stating it was “immoral” and removed the content from their pages.
While the website has been taken down, there are many more that still host the clips and Sweet Anita says she is seeking legal advice.
She isn’t swayed by the creator’s apology, insisting the person “does not care how it affects” victims.
She told us: “I don’t really accept the apology because it’s too little too late.
“It looks like damage control from someone facing a pending lawsuit rather than actual remorse.”
Another victim Blaire, an American known as QTCinderella on Twitch, vowed to sue the creator and lashed out at those who “violated” her with the videos.
In an emotional video, she said: ”F*** the people DM’ing me pictures of myself from my website.
“This is what it looks like, this is what the pain looks like.”