I was in deepfake porn, fans think it’s real — it can happen to anyone

Now, this is really faked up. 

Sweet Anita, a 32-year-old British social media star with more than 1.9 million Twitch followers, is deeply freaked out after discovering that her face has been digitally superimposed into deepfake pornography clips. 

“I have never made a single drop of sexual content in my life, but now they just assume that I have and [that] I must want this,” Sweet Anita, who reportedly chose to withhold her real name, lamented to The Sun. “You could deepfake anyone. Anyone from any walk of life could be targeted by this, and it feels like people don’t give a s–t.”

For deepfakes, creators use artificial intelligence and machine learning software to replace the likeness of one person with another in videos and other digital media.

High-power women such as Emma Watson, Gal Gadot, Scarlett Johansson and Michelle Obama have all been targeted in X-rated deepfake films. And while the non-consensual use of one’s image in pornography could result in damaging outcomes; in the US, laws prohibiting deepfakes have only been established in Texas, Virginia and California. 

Sweet Anita fears deepfake phonographic films have the potential to ruin her life.
Sweet Anita fears deepfake phonographic films have the potential to ruin her life.
Twitch / Sweet_Anita
After receiving a virtual apology from a fellow Twitch star who shared the link to her deepfake porn, Anita has uncovered additional sites featuring her in falsified X-rated clips.
After receiving a virtual apology from a fellow Twitch star who shared the link to her deepfake porn, Anita has uncovered additional sites featuring her in falsified X-rated clips.
YouTube/SweetAnita


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Anita, from East Anglia in eastern England — where a forthcoming amendment to the UK’s Online Safety Bill will reportedly criminalize deepfakes — learned that her likeness was being featured in internet porn sans her consent in January. The troubling discovery came when fellow Twitch personality Brandon Ewing, 31, known virtually as Atrioc, shared a link to the deepfake video site during a livestreaming event. 

Ewing later issued an apology to Anita for sharing the link, tearfully atoning for his “gross” and “embarrassing” conduct. 

But after watching his cyber mea culpa and Googling her own name, Anita was “horrified” to find that multiple pornographic deepfakes using her image had been published online. 


Ewing, more popularly known ad Atroic, cried as he apologized for sharing the link to deepfake porn sites that featured X-rated images of Sweet Anita and QTCinderella.
Ewing, more popularly known ad Atroic, cried as he apologized for sharing the link to deepfake porn sites that featured X-rated images of Sweet Anita and QTCinderella.
YouTube/Atrioc

“It’s not easy to differentiate [a deepfake] from reality,” she groaned. “If people see this video in 10 or 20 years’ time, no one will know whether I was a sex worker or [if] this was a deepfake.”

The victimized Twitch gamer continued, “It could potentially get you fired from jobs in the future if people think you’ve done sex work. It affects your security [and] how people treat you. You are stigmatized.”

And as for Ewing’s weepy “I’m sorry” post, Anita said: “I don’t really accept the apology because it’s too little, too late.”


Sweet Anita says she and other female content creators targeted in deepfake porn clips will forever be subjected to unjust scrutiny.
Sweet Anita says she and other female content creators targeted in deepfake porn clips will forever be subjected to unjust scrutiny.
YouTube/SweetAnita

“It looks like damage control from someone facing a pending lawsuit rather than actual remorse,” she continued. 

Last month, Google searches for “deepfake porn” skyrocketed 1,000% in the UK, per Scams.info. And in the weeks since, Sweet Anita — as well as other social media personalities, including Los Angeles-based Twitch star QTCinderella, 28, née Blaire — discovered she’d been targeted in deepfake porn, searches for “how to make a deepfake” rose 120%.

Searches for “are deepfakes illegal” were also said to have soared a staggering 5,000%. 


Anita claims digital wrongdoers have been using her image in X-rated material for years.
Anita claims digital wrongdoers have been using her image in X-rated material for years.
Getty Images

And Anita fears the mass circulation of her misused image will have lasting ramifications.

“This was nonconsensual and the impacts are permanent,” she said. “This will impact my life in a similar way to revenge porn, so I’m just frustrated, tired, and numb.”

Unfortunately, she’s no stranger to being wrongfully highlighted in raunchy digital content.  

“Before deepfakes, people had been photoshopping still images to have my face on porn,” said Anita. 

“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,” she continued. 

“There are people who make whole Reddit forums just to roleplay as me,” the brunette mourned, “where they are like, ‘I’m going to pretend to be Sweet Anita, do you want to do spicy DMs with me?’”


Anita worries that she and other female content creators will have to spend "thousands" on therapy in order to cope with being violated online.
Anita worries that she and other female content creators will have to spend “thousands” on therapy in order to cope with being violated online.
YouTube/SweetAnita

She went on to claim that there are online communities comprised of “thousands” of members who are joined by their shared desire to unjustly sexualize her and other women streamers. 

“It’s one extra thing in an endless and exhaustive list that female content creators have to take on that [is] traumatizing,” Anita said. “[And we have to] take thousands of [dollars] to address and require therapy to deal with.”

She also noted a perceived “lack of empathy” from online gamers, who she says often “blame women” for the distasteful deepfake content. 

“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,” said Anita. 

“It’s really, really difficult,” she added, “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.”

In an emotional address, QTCinderella said "F- -k the internet" for its circulation of her falsified sex content.
In an emotional address, QTCinderella said “F–k the internet” for its circulation of her falsified sex content.
Twitch/QTCinderella
QTCinderella, 28, like Sweet Anita, is one of the many female content creators who were targeted by deepfake porn creators.
QTCinderella, like Sweet Anita, is one of the many female content creators who were targeted by deepfake porn creators.
Twitch/QTCinderella


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In early February, a despondent and “violated” QTCinderalla blasted deepfake creeps for using her image in their NSFW production. 

“I’m so exhausted and I think you guys need to know what pain looks like because this is it,” she sobbed. “This is what it looks like to feel violated. This is what it feels like to be taken advantage of, this is what it looks like to see yourself naked against your will being spread all over the internet. This is what it looks like.”

She then scolded the entire online community, including Atroic, for the embarrassment and harassment. 

“F–k the f–king internet. F–k Atroic for showing it to thousands of people,” she barked. “F–k the people DMing me pictures of myself from that website. F–k you all!“

source: nypost.com