Deepfake nudes inflict real harm despite being fake. The visual nature of the assault makes it visceral, immediate and relentlessly invasive. It is not a hypothetical future; it is current, and the victims pay a price that no algorithm can fully repay.
When technology becomes an instrument of humiliation
August 2023 saw a Singaporean content creator discover fabricated nude images posted on seedy corners of the web. The images were falsely attributed to an OnlyFans account and then amplified by anonymous hands. The work of removal was left to the victim: hunting down pages, filing takedown requests, and watching search results resurface like a tide of shame. Descriptions used the word “humiliating” for a reason. Harassment followed. Soliciting direct messages flooded inboxes. Sleep vanished. Trust eroded.
“There were a slew of direct messages that came in on my social media, which asked me how much I was charging for a night and solicited me for sexual services,” the creator told reporters. “It felt like my inner world was too heavy.”
That weight does not lift simply because the images are fake. Intimacy is stolen, reputation dented, safety compromised. When invented images are shared among people who know the victim, the attack becomes local and intimate, and that closeness is corrosive. A painfully clear example occurred in Spain, where schoolmates fabricated explicit images of more than twenty teenage girls and circulated them. Extortion followed. Panic followed. The schoolyard turned into a weaponized social network.
Regulators, platforms and the limits of bans
December 2025 brought another alarm: an AI chatbot on a major social platform generated images of women and children in provocative contexts. Governments reacted. Investigations and temporary bans followed. Platforms agreed to tighten controls and bans were lifted. The fast-moving nature of this technology means single-point bans become a game of whack-a-mole. Users simply switch platforms, download third-party clients, use proxies, or share files in private channels. Evidence shows bans can displace harm rather than eliminate it.
Singapore chose another path: engagement with platforms and building an authority equipped to issue takedown orders. The newly passed Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act gives that authority tools to require content removals, shut down offending accounts and pierce anonymity. That approach matches what victims most often want: removal and recourse. It also recognises reality: enforcement without a route to remediation leaves survivors stranded.
The true work: prevention, detection and support
Blanket prohibitions sound decisive, but they fail at the hard work. The alternative is deliberate, multi-layered action. That means technical guards, legal pathways, and human-centered responses deployed together.
- Preventive design — Platforms must make deepfake creation harder: restrict raw access to model weights, require provenance tracking for generated media and enforce strict API usage limits. Watermarking models and embedding detectable signals in synthetic images reduce plausibly deniable harms.
- Rapid detection and takedown — Effective systems combine automated detection with human review and a clear reporting pipeline. Victims need fast removals; delays multiply harm. The ability to issue takedown orders to apps, group admins and ISPs short-circuits the time-sink that many survivors face today.
- Legal and civil remedies — Laws that enable civil suits, identity unmasking for malicious actors and swift injunctive relief change the calculus for perpetrators. Legal frameworks should be designed to restore rights, not simply punish.
- Human-centered support — Emotional recovery matters. Hotlines, counselling, and legal clinics must sit alongside technical remedies. Survivors describe panic, sleeplessness and, in some cases, thoughts of self-harm. Those symptoms demand a response that is humane and immediate.
What organisations and small businesses must do now
Silence or complacency is not an option. Local businesses and small teams are vulnerable vectors because employees, contractors and creators may be targeted. Practical steps can be implemented today and defended tomorrow.
- Create clear incident playbooks — Prepare a checklist for suspected deepfake incidents: capture evidence, isolate affected accounts, engage legal counsel, contact platforms and deploy communications to limit reputational exposure.
- Train staff and creators — Awareness reduces panic and speeds reporting. Teach employees how to flag suspicious content, where to seek support and how to preserve digital evidence.
- Harden accounts and access — Two-factor authentication, compartmentalised accounts and least-privilege practices reduce the chance that personal content will be harvested and misused.
- Build relationships with platforms — Early lines to platform trust and safety teams pay off when quick takedowns are needed. Having an established escalation path is not optional; it is essential.
- Support survivors internally — If a team member is targeted, privacy, paid leave and access to counselling should be standard. Compassion combined with procedure is an antidote to isolation.
Society must change the conversation
Tolerance for deepfake abuse must shrink. When harm is minimised by friends, family or the public, trauma compounds. Language matters. Tone matters. Responses matter. Survivors need validation, not judgement. Organisations tasked with public safety must harmonise enforcement with empathy.
Technology will continue its torrid advance. The right response is not panic, nor is it naive optimism. It is decisive, layered, and human. It is legislation that provides remedies, platforms that take responsibility, and communities that refuse to normalise abuse. Most importantly, it is a promise that the invasion of privacy and dignity will be met with swift action and lasting change.
Those who create, host or profit from platforms must be held to account. Those who suffer must be believed and supported. That is the standard that can stop fake images from doing real damage.