Deepfake posting sites depicting famous women taken down by feds - Malwarebytes
US authorities seized two deepfake websites in a crackdown on nonconsensual intimate imagery targeting politicians, journalists, and entertainers
- Incident date
- Jun 2026
- Target
- multiple, including politicians, first ladies, royalty, journalists, and entertainers
In June 2026, the US Department of Justice and Homeland Security seized the domain names CFake.com and SOCFake.com, marking a significant enforcement action against platforms hosting nonconsensual intimate deepfakes. This operation was conducted under the authority of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a federal statute enacted in May 2025 that criminalizes the publication of AI-generated forgeries and provides for site forfeiture.
What happened
The seized websites hosted a vast library of digital forgeries depicting a wide range of individuals, including politicians, royalty, first ladies, athletes, and entertainers. According to seizure warrants, the content on these sites was organized under harmful tags. An international investigation led to the arrest of a French IT professional in Nice who was allegedly the operator of CFake.com. French authorities discovered approximately 300,000 images and 7,000 videos featuring 14,000 distinct individuals, which generated roughly four million monthly views. Investigators also recovered $64,000 in Ether cryptocurrency at the suspect's home, believed to be advertising revenue from the platform. The suspect is scheduled to stand trial in Paris for illicit online transactions and the distribution of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes.
This action is part of a broader, ongoing crackdown on the production and distribution of nonconsensual imagery. Other recent enforcement efforts include the guilty plea of James Strahler II in Ohio for cyberstalking and producing digital forgeries, as well as the arrest of Cornelius Shannon and Arturo Hernandez for publishing deepfake images of prominent women. While these seizures successfully remove specific distribution points for illicit content, experts note that the underlying AI models and the rising demand for such material remain significant challenges for law enforcement globally. Authorities continue to encourage victims to document evidence, including URLs and dated screenshots, when reporting such incidents.