Apple Bans “Nudify” Apps, A Massive Victory for Survivors

Apple updated its App Store developer guidelines over the weekend to ban AI "nudify" apps, a change UltraViolet credited to its years-long Reclaim the Domain campaign and called "a massive victory" for survivors of tech-facilitated sexual abuse. UltraViolet Campaign Director Jenna Sherman said Apple's new CEO John Ternus "now has an opportunity to usher in a new era of leadership that puts the safety of women and children first," and demanded Google make the same change in its Play Store immediately. The organization cited research finding Elon Musk's xAI chatbot Grok generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images on X in 11 days in January, including approximately 23,000 depicting children, and said Apple and Google still refuse to remove Grok and X from their stores or add a sexual violence hotline atop "deepfake porn" searches.

UltraViolet, a leading national women-led gender-justice organization responsible for numerous impactful victories against sexual predators and tech-facilitated sexual violence, issued the following statement in response to Apple updating its developer guidelines http://developer.apple.com/news/?id=92th7e5i to ban AI “nudify” apps on its App Store, calling on Google to make the same changes in its Play Store immediately. “This victory belongs to the courageous survivors of dangerous ‘nudify’ apps—especially children—and the advocates who demanded accountability. Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, now has an opportunity to usher in a new era of leadership that puts the safety of women and children first,” said Jenna Sherman, Campaign Director at UltraViolet. “Apple's decision is an important step forward, and Google must follow suit immediately. But one policy change is not enough. Big Tech must do more to stop enabling and profiting from the creation and spread of AI-facilitated sexual abuse.” Apple quietly made the change over the weekend amid public outcry and UltraViolet’s years-long Reclaim the Domain https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/1/13593822d66a993341562255eb315114b3091454997c36db31b53648b1e097f0?cache buster=1792537024 pressure campaign demanding that the company, alongside Google, stop the proliferation of non-consensual sexual content on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. In January, Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok fueled a wave of nonconsensual sexual deepfake abuse on X, generating an estimated 3 million sexualized images in just 11 days, including approximately 23,000 depicting children, according to research https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/2/bc2a2172f79381ff6ada65267357b0f733c9eaa4227442bb170a705b285ac875?cache buster=1792537024 . In response, UltraViolet delivered a sign-on letter to Apple and Google endorsed by 28 organizations calling https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/3/45b37269f3ed46170c59ac66f3c95efd7089bde59bbfdc7768d245e180100636?cache buster=1792537024 on the companies to remove Grok, X, and all “nudify” apps from their respective marketplaces. After the companies failed to act, UltraViolet escalated its campaign in May, bringing together more than 50 civil society organizations to send an open letter https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/4/c4290d63d13234cbe9eaf5bc76c5b9f7c0151489bcded3e1e3153ba8bc11e124?cache buster=1792537024 calling on state Attorneys General AGs to take direct legal action against Apple and Google for hosting “nudify” apps in their app stores. In June, UltraViolet and child safety organization Heat Initiative https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/5/6c698e3076512c1e321e882d6769e2c4e3388a25166f609fa00f6565a24a5d5c?cache buster=1792537024 took the campaign directly to Apple's doorstep, co-hosting a demonstration https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/6/fa5bad43c905ef5f67601b3f4a1300d80788b1bc585517f15ef6b42238018767?cache buster=1792537024 at Apple Park during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC , calling on new CEO John Ternus to change course from the past inaction on “nudify” apps which defined Tim Cook’s tenure. “Just as we pressured Apple into making these changes, we’ll continue fighting until Google does the same and our other demands are met,” continued Sherman . “The two companies still refuse to 1 remove Grok and X from their app stores, since Grok is a major source of mass-produced sexual deepfakes targeting women and children, 2 add a sexual violence hotline at the top of searches for ‘deepfake porn,’ while abusive sexualized deepfakes can still be found all over Google search and tutorials on how to make deepfakes with tools available on the Google Play Store and Apple Store remain monetized, and 3 remove all known child sexual abuse material CSAM from iCloud.” According to a 2023 report https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/7/ed9506b50744f2769919e568ba8960ff64650ff3422cf8f1e14051c7bc39903a?cache buster=1792537024 , an estimated 98 percent of deepfake videos found online were sexually explicit, and 99 percent of those targeted in sexual deepfakes were women. UltraViolet believes the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, including hyperscale data centers, is helping fuel this epidemic of digital abuse. That growing threat has mobilized tens of thousands of people to join UltraViolet’s Reclaim the Domain https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/8/174a48d87a675bedf5366411fda9b6dbc59ad97c0c8bbde30d14e68a662cbdae?cache buster=1792537024 campaign. UltraViolet’s petition https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/9/d404af1365d9227da8cfe732ed766436f3f116761658eccc8a5e9e9e579a272e?cache buster=1792537024 calling on Apple and Google to remove “nudify” apps from their app stores garnered more than 55,000 signatures. “This win is proof that the tides are turning against these Big Tech companies, and against the ‘forced inevitability’ of AI that hurts all American people, particularly women and children. Today we celebrate this win, absolutely, but we see it as the start of a domino chain, built on the bravery of survivors, to bring down the entirety of this abusive ecosystem of sexual deepfake abuse. We are living in the greatest mass sexual abuse crisis of our time, and companies like Apple and Google have been getting rich off of it. Tech companies must for once change their tune and put people over profit—especially Google, which has no excuse to implement the same app store ban as Apple. The physical and mental well-being of every woman and child depends on it,” concluded Sherman . Apple’s new restrictions mark the latest in a series of tech accountability victories that UltraViolet has helped secure. Recent UltraViolet wins include pressuring Google to block searches https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/10/55c4dc948ac1fcc8122d41beaf4acb06832face56f481e1ca1b45bf2f514c096?cache buster=1792537024 for “nudify” apps, downrank https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/11/5ac82c0b0cf2aabc691a5dcf4d075c3f834af42e8063d2816d8fbf30c8553e0e?cache buster=1792537024 websites dedicated to platforming deepfake abuse, and to stop accepting advertising money from these apps; pushing https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/12/a4a44ae82e008bfdfbe144a35fe78ffd878efaca5111507713abdbb64134e905?cache buster=1792537024 crucial federal legislation like the DEFIANCE Act forward; and helping https://tracking.us.nylas.com/l/b3ba1027fcae48a097554d946fa9b4e9/13/c8fccf5b259d783801901adeedbbb5568109ee7f6bf4bae6685f2fdc1eacac22?cache buster=1792537024 spur legal action from state lawmakers and AGs against Apple and Google for enabling AI-generated CSAM.