The U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security seized multiple internet domains this week, accusing them of being used to publishing thousands of AI or digitally-altered images and videos of nude women.

The domains, CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com, specialized in digital forgeries that “were made to appear to be sexual images of famous women, including politicians, first ladies of multiple countries, royalty, journalists, television presenters, athletes, entertainers, and others” either nude or engaged in sexual activity,” according to a Department of Justice release.

In addition to creating sexual images and videos of women without their consent, the service allowed people to browse by topics, including “rape,” “forced,” and “degradation.”

That description comes from a Department of Justice release describing the contents of its probable cause affidavit and search warrants. CyberScoop has not viewed the court documents.  

The sites were seized under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a law passed last year giving federal authorities the ability to criminally prosecute those who create and distribute deepfake porn. The law was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement in Washington D.C., gaining support from both Democrats and Republicans who said their constituents were demanding tougher laws to curb the use of AI to create nonconsensual deepfake porn.

The operation marks one of the largest seizures since the law went into effect. The details of the operation disclosed by the government show how creators of deepfake porn rely on a web of international assets and infrastructure to evade law enforcement.

Robert Fraiser, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, said U.S. authorities worked in coordination with law enforcement agencies in France and Italy. According to U.S. officials, they were first notified about the website by Italian Polizia de Stato, while a parallel investigation run by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office in France resulted in the arrest of a suspect connected with the site, along with seized cryptocurrency funds.

“These seizures stopped a website that trafficked in humiliation, exploitation, and the violation of personal privacy on a massive scale,” said Frazer in a statement. “For the victims whose images were distributed without their consent, the harm is not virtual — it is deeply personal and often enduring.”

According to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, Cyrille B., a 47-year-old French national was arrested and accused of being an administrator for CFAKE. A search of his home in Nice found computer equipment related to the site and a little more than $48,000 in Ethereum cryptocurrency that they said came from the site’s advertising.

The French investigation identified 300,000 images, 7,000 videos depicting 14,000 individuals from different countries. The site had approximately 200,000 user accounts, 4 million views per month and uploaded 50 pieces of new content every day.

The suspect had no prior criminal record, and will go to trial on July 7. The charges carry potential penalties of up to seven years in prison and €500,000.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation division is leading the federal investigation, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s office for New Jersey.

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The Federal Trade Commission is set to begin enforcing a key provision of the Take Down Act on May 19, requiring websites and online services to remove nonconsensual deepfake media within 48 hours after a victim’s notice—or risk fines and FTC investigation.

The law, passed by Congress last year, allowed law enforcement to immediately prosecute individuals who create and post such content online. But platforms and websites that host the material were given a yearlong runway to build out their reporting and takedown system. Under the enforcement regime taking effect, businesses that fail to remove flagged media within the 48-hour notification window could face fines and an investigation from the FTC.

This week, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson sent letters to private-sector companies detailing how the commission intends to police compliance once enforcement begins. The FTC set a maximum civil penalty of – $53,088 per violation for companies that don’t take down content as required, and Ferguson’s letter outlines other requirements, including that companies make it easy and convenient for users to submit takedown requests.

“We stand ready to monitor compliance, investigate violations, and enforce the Take It Down Act,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Protecting the vulnerable—especially children—from this harmful abuse is a top priority for this agency and this administration.”

Ferguson’s letter sheds new light on how the FTC will enforce content takedowns under the law.  Both nonconsensual intimate imagery posted online using real photos of other individuals as well as AI-generated or modified “digital forgeries” would be considered violations.

Companies must also make it easy for victims without accounts to report potential violations, details their reporting and removal program on their website “in plain language” and provide “clear and conspicuous” notice to users about how to request removals.

According to the FTC, the law covers websites, apps, social media, image or video sharing services and gaming platforms. Ferguson’s letters were addressed to a who’s who of tech and social media companies, including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Automattic, Bumble, Discord, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, Pinterest, Reddit, SmugMug, Snapchat, TikTok and X.

Earlier this year, Grok, the AI service that X users have access to, was used to flood the social media site with nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes of real people. Elon Musk, X’s owner, initially brushed off critics but has since been hit with multiple criminal and civil investigations stemming from the incident, as well as lawsuits and calls from some world leaders to ban the app entirely.

 The FTC is also recommending that companies implement hashing technologies “to prevent the reappearance of intimate content you already removed from your platform” and share their findings with nonprofits like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and StopNCII.org to track across other parts of the internet.

Becca Branum, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told CyberScoop that some elements of the FTC’s approach – like requiring clear and simple reporting options for victims – aligns with best practices established by civil society groups.

But she also said the FTC’s role under the Take It Down Act is materially different from anything the commission has done before. The sheer scale of enforcement and monitoring will require human and technical resources on par with those of major social media companies.

“I’m very concerned about the FTC and its ability to fairly enforce this law,” said Branum. “They are now in the business of regulating content moderation. That is hard work and not something they’re used to doing.”

Some legal and privacy experts pointed to the large financial penalties set by the FTC as a sign that policymakers are looking to put real teeth behind enforcement. Those penalties could pile up quickly if a business is hosting or publishing multiple copies of the same flagged media and declines to remove it within two days.

“For covered platforms, compliance with the Act is critical given the FTC’s emphasis on enforcement – reflecting White House priorities – and potential civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation,” wrote privacy attorneys Duane Pozza and Ian Barlow.

But Branum said the hefty fines also emphasize “just how much incentive will be in place for platforms to take anything that comes down the complaint line.”

While the Take It Down Act is designed to force companies to investigate claims and remove violating content, the regulatory and financial incentives push them to simply remove almost all content reported by default. That approach, which many of the same tech companies have taken under laws like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, can be exploited by bad faith actors seeking to shut down legal speech or content online.

“If you think there’s any given post [where] if you ask an attorney is it worth $53,000 for me to keep this post up, the answer is always going to be taken it down,” Branum said. “I can’t imagine any service wanting to risk that type of fine on edge cases or anything they can’t verify or account for within 48 hours.”

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A 19-year-old woman is suing the makers of a dating app, alleging they took a video she posted online, repurposed it without her consent into an advertisement for the app, then used geofencing to target that ad to people in her area. 

According to the lawsuit filed Apr. 28 in Tennessee and an interview with her lawyer, the company allegedly used geotargeting to serve the ads on platforms like Snapchat to users near her, including men in her own dormitory. 

The allegations, if proven, offer another example of how modern technology has made it easier than ever today for bad actors to imitate, objectify, profit off and harass individuals, often women. Recent laws like the Take It Down Act have focused particularly on the use of AI to create sexualized imagery of their victims. In this case, the lawsuit alleges that Meete used not AI, but simple video editing, a voiceover and geofencing to create the same kind of deception. 

 On the day of her high school graduation, Kaelyn Lunglhofer posted a brief video to TikTok, wearing an orange outfit and saying a few words to her followers over background music. She went on to attend the University of Tennessee in the fall, where she began building a following as a TikTok influencer.

The complaint alleges that the makers behind the dating app Meete took that video without Lunglhofer’s consent, overlayed it with graphics advertising the app, and added a voiceover to make it appear she was saying “Are you looking for a friend with benefits? This app shows you women around you who are looking for some fun. You can video chat with them.”

Abe Pafford, Lunglhofer’s attorney, told CyberScoop that his client had no idea Meete was using her likeness until a male student in her dormitory told her he had repeatedly seen her in ads for the app on his Snapchat shortly after the two had met. 

Pafford called it “implausible” that this was a coincidence, pointing to Meete’s premise of connecting users with nearby women and the precision of geofencing technology. Before filing the case, Pafford’s law firm hired an investigative firm to gather additional evidence.

“I think the idea is they want[ed] viewers of these advertisements – and candidly this is pretty clearly targeted at male viewers – to have their eye caught by someone they may know or recognize or think they may have seen around, and that’s part of what makes it so disturbing,” he said.

Pafford said he believes Lunglhofer is far from the only person whose image Meete has misappropriated, and that most victims likely have no idea it’s happening. Lunglhofer herself only had evidence because the student who told her had saved recordings and screenshots of the ads featuring her video.

“The bottom line is we think there are likely others that have been victimized in a similar way, but finding out who they are and landing on tangible proof of that can be challenging,” he said.

After this story was published, Snap told CyberScoop it is investigating.

“Snap’s advertising policies require that advertisers have all necessary rights to the content in their ads, including the rights to any individuals featured,” Snap spokesperson Ahrim Nam said in an email. “Using someone’s likeness without their consent is a violation of our policies. Upon learning of these allegations, we are actively reviewing the matter and will take appropriate action.”

The lawsuit cites alleged violation of multiple federal and state laws, including the Lanham Act, the primary U.S. law governing trademark rights. The suit also alleges violations of Tennessee state law under the ELVIS Act, which prevents the unauthorized use of image or likeness for artists and musicians, and Tennessee common laws for defamation and right of publicity.

Lunglhofer is seeking $750,000 in punitive damages, as well as any revenue tied to the ads featuring her likeness. Pafford said that the advertisements damaged her online brand and reputation while also putting her at risk of harassment or falsely implying she was endorsing a local dating service and was open to casual hookups.

“It’s really kind of grotesque and it’s also kind of dangerous,” he said. “Someone may not be aware that this is happening and they’re targeted in this way, but you can put people at risk in ways that are really troubling if you stop to think about it.”

The suit names Quantum Communications Development Unlimited, based in the Virgin Islands, as well as Chinese companies Starpool Data Limited and Guangzhou Yuedong Interconnection Technology, as defendants. A judge has ordered representatives from all three to appear for depositions in the United States.

Quantum Communications Development Unlimited has a sparse internet footprint: their website consists of a single page with a message written in broken English and an email address that no longer appears to work. Efforts by CyberScoop to reach the company and other defendants for comment were not successful. The company is listed as Meete’s publisher on Apple’s App Store, where it describes the app as “a space where you can be yourself and meet people” and promises “safety and respect first” — adding that “Meete provides a secure environment where your privacy and safety are our top concerns.”

The description also claims the app adheres to Apple’s safety standards, citing a “Zero-Tolerance Policy regarding objectionable content and abusive behavior.” Listed safeguards include “24/7” manual reviews by moderation teams, instant reporting and blocking of other users, and AI filtering “to detect and prevent harassment before it happens.”

On Meete’s Google Play Store page, user reviews accuse the app of failing to match them to nearby users and being largely populated by bots posing as women to sell in-app currency.

Pafford acknowledged that the defendants being based overseas complicates efforts to hold them accountable under U.S. law, but argued that Meete is clearly designed to operate in the United States. The companies behind the app have filed U.S. patents and trademarks, for their business, and distribute their app through the Apple and Google Play Stores while advertising on major U.S. social media platforms like Snapchat.

Apple and Google did not respond to a request for comment.

You can read the full lawsuit below.

5/05/26: This story was updated to include comment from Snap received after publication.

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The Federal Trade Commission is poised to deepen its involvement in curbing the use of AI for malicious purposes, including the spread of nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes and voice cloning scams.

Last year, Congress passed the Take It Down Act, a law that allowed for criminal prosecution of individuals who share or distribute nonconsensual, intimate images and digital forgeries, including those that are AI-generated.

At a Senate oversight hearing last week, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson called the new law one of the “greatest legislative achievements” of the current Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration, and said the FTC was preparing for “robust enforcement.”

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice scored its first successful conviction under the new law, when 37-year-old Columbus, Ohio resident James Strahler pleaded guilty to using AI-generated deepfake nudes as part of a harassment campaign targeting at least six women.

Another section of the law – set to become active in May, will permit individuals to file “take down” notices with websites that publish or host sexual deepfakes. Companies will have 48 hours to remove the content or be subject to FTC investigation and enforcement.

Commissioner Mark Meador said at a March 30 conference in Washington D.C. that while he hopes they “never have to enforce it,” the FTC is treating Take It Down enforcement as a top priority and “actively spinning everything up that we need” to enforce the take down provision.   

That could quickly set up one of the first major confrontations with the tech sector— especially companies like xAI. Its Grok tool continues to be used to create and host nonconsensual deepfake images of real people, even after the scandal it faced earlier this year.

Following his speech, CyberScoop asked Meador how the take down provisions might apply to Grok’s mass nudification spree of its users. He said the law specifies that the commission can’t take action against a company until they receive formal complaints starting in May.  

“This is coming into place, and then if they don’t [remove the content] we would get the complaints and then we would go after them at that point,” Meador said. “So, we kind of have to wait and see how…companies respond to complaints and requests being made, and my hope would be that every company that gets a request to take something down would immediately take it down.”

xAI’s press office did not respond to CyberScoop’s request for comment on its preparations to comply with the Take It Down act. 

Strahler, who has yet to be sentenced, also admitted to using photos of children in his neighborhood to create deepfake pornography. A strategic plan published earlier this month flagged protecting children online as a “key concern” for the commission that merits more consumer tools and resources.

The commission is “dedicated to exploring other ways the FTC can protect children and support families, including through its new authority under the Take It Down Act,” the plan states.

Casey Waughn, a privacy lawyer and senior associate at Armstrong Teasdale, told CyberScoop that the current commission’s focus on child online safety leaves ample room for the law to be brought to bear in creative ways.

“We’ve seen enforcing technology and privacy violations related to youth children is a priority, so I think it’s relatively easy to parlay that into some Take it Down Act enforcement,” she said.

Waughn said the one-year delay for provision’s enforcement was so that platforms could prepare, but also said the FTC could do more to publicly signal to companies what lawful compliance looks like, similar to the resources they provide around major privacy laws.  

“I think what would be helpful for all organizations…would be guidance explaining what constitutes a good faith effort, for example, to attempt to address a take down request,” said Waughn.

Living in a scammer’s paradise

The FTC is also grappling with the impact of AI on criminal scams targeting Americans online.

Ferguson told lawmakers that AI is “increasing both the sophistication of the actual mechanisms by which the scams are accomplished, but it’s also making it easier for scammers to choose their targets.”

But the FTC’s powers are limited, as the Federal Communications Commission regulates the telephone and internet providers that transmit most scams. Ferguson also noted that many call center scams are located overseas “where they don’t bat an eye at the risk of civil enforcement from the FTC.” He said the commission was open to additional legislative authorities to tackle the problem.

At the March conference, Meador was said AI-fueled deception was something the commission thinks about “daily” and is lowering the barrier to entry for many criminal schemes.

“The biggest place that we’ve seen [in] the way that some of these AI tools are being used to triple charge scams, to be honest,” he said.

Last year, the FBI reported that voice cloning scams impersonating distressed family members had bilked Americans out of nearly $900 million, and the technology has been used to impersonate high level Trump administration officials in conversations with businesses and political leaders.

Senator Maggie Hassan wrote to four AI voice cloning companies – ElevenLabs, LOVO, Speechify and VEED – asking what policies and programs they had in place to prevent or deter fraud enabled by their tools.

But Meador said that when it comes to deceptive claims, it’s particularly difficult to define credulity around the use of AI. Many deepfakes, he said, are seen and consumed by many people online with the same sort of “willing suspension of disbelief” that they bring to computer-generated effects in movies.

As such, the FTC will likely have to adjudicate on a case-by-case basis rather than through “broad brush strokes.”

“I think we’ll see a lot of that in the AI context, where if you know something wasn’t meant to be real or authentic, that’s not a concern,” he said. “The question is then, what are those situations where there is an expectation that you’re being shown something authentic and quote, unquote ‘real’ as opposed to being AI generated and was there misrepresentation or material omission” to disclose that?”

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National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross expects more executive orders coming from the White House as part of implementing the national cybersecurity strategy, he said Wednesday.

Staffers on Capitol Hill and others in the cyber world have been awaiting the implementation guidance the Trump administration had proclaimed would come to accompany the strategy  published last month.

Asked at a Semafor event about whether that would include executive orders, Cairncross answered, “I think that that’s the case.”

The administration released an executive order on fraud the same day it released its cyber strategy on March 6. Some of that order touched on cybercrime.

“This is rolling forward actively, and you should expect that there will be more execution and action in line with our strategic goals,” he said.

Cairncross cited another administration activity that fit into the strategy, such as the first conviction last week under the Take It Down Act, a law First Lady Melania Trump advocated for that seeks to combat non-consensual AI-generated sexually explicit images, violent threats and cyberstalking.

He declined to preview any future implementation plans, and said he expected they would be coming “relatively soon.”

A centerpiece of the administration strategy is confronting adversaries to make sure they suffer consequences for their hacking of United States targets.

Cairncross wouldn’t say explicitly if Trump, in his visit to Beijing next month, would address Chinese hacking.

“When we start to see things like prepositioning on critical infrastructure, that is something that needs to be addressed,” he said. Pressed on whether that meant cyber would be on the agenda during the visit, Caincross said, “I would expect that the safety and security of the American people will be first and foremost, as it always is for the president.”

Cairncross touted American ingenuity for producing an artificial intelligence model like Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, rather than it developing under U.S. cyber rivals like China or Russia. He acknowledged reports about the administration holding meetings about the cyber risks and benefits of something like Mythos — “the model right now that everyone’s talking about” — adding that the administration is looking to balance the dangers and positive capabilities of AI in cyberspace.

“I would say from the White House perspective, we are working very closely with industry,” Cairncross said. “We’ve been in close collaboration with the model companies across the interagency to make sure that we are evaluating and doing this.”

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Henry Aleksandrov reports: An Ohio man who became the first person in the country to be convicted under the federal revenge porn law would be able to eventually reintegrate into society after Ohio lawmakers introduced several bills, some of which were already passed by the legislators. Among the ways the bills would help the man...