THE Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized the domains of 12 websites that sold AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), in what it described as the largest known seizure of celebrity deepfake sites. The platforms hosted material depicting more than 1,200 people, including politicians, actors, musicians and social justice advocates. At least one site also let users create deepfakes by combining real faces and bodies with sexual imagery.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg warned that deepfake NCII can be used by domestic abusers to threaten victims. The FBI has separately warned that sextortion attackers are using AI to turn photographs of minors taken from social media into explicit images. The seizure stops the immediate distribution of the material, but operators may move to new domains or infrastructure.
An Institute for Strategic Dialogue report described an ecosystem spanning AI tool providers, hosting companies and cryptocurrency payment processors. Bragg’s office said it would monitor the seized websites to prevent them reappearing elsewhere.
The action follows other enforcement efforts, including the seizure of two domains by the US Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security in June, and earlier legal action against similar services in San Francisco. The TAKE IT DOWN Act, enacted in May 2025, made certain intentional publication of NCII, including sexual deepfakes, a federal crime.
Victims or people threatened with publication are advised to preserve evidence and report it to police; Bragg’s office said affected people can contact its Cyber Crime Bureau on 212-335-9600.