Taylor Swift is now unsearchable on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It comes after a controversy surrounding viral AI-generated deepfake pictures of Swift surfaced. The photos, which were sexually explicit, have been denounced by sources close to Swift, as well as SAG-AFTRA and the White House.
The Daily Beast has reached out to X, who did not have an immediate comment.
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The AI images included a watermark that suggested they came from a website known for creating fake nude images of celebrities. That site has an entire section called “AI deepfake.” The account that posted the images has since been suspended.
“The sexually explicit, A.I.-generated images depicting Taylor Swift are upsetting, harmful, and deeply concerning,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement Friday, after the images went viral. “The development and dissemination of fake images—especially those of a lewd nature—without someone’s consent must be made illegal.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also commented on the explicit images.
“We are alarmed by the reports of the… circulation of images that you just laid out—of false images to be more exact, and it is alarming,” Jean-Pierre said on Friday.
The press secretary added, “While social media companies make their own independent decisions about content management, we believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation, and non-consensual, intimate imagery of real people.”
Fans of Swift were happy to see X potentially taking a step to hide these images on their website.
“At least they did something,” one social media user wrote.
“Just because Taylor chose this career,” posted another, “does not mean she isn’t entitled to privacy & respect. The sooner people understand that, the better.”
