{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-23T15:13:07.951Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"new-york","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-manhattan-da-deepfake-ncii-site-seizure","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'September 14, 2026'; 'today announced the Office’s seizure of 12 domain names of illegal websites used for unlawfully disseminating, publishing, and selling non-consensual celebrity “deepfake” videos'; 'we have seized these websites pursuant to a court order'; 'Our investigations into these websites and similar operations are ongoing'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"da"},{"locator":"'On Monday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the seizure of 12 domains'.","relation":"context","source_id":"wired"}],"assertion":"On 14 September 2026 the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced that it had seized 12 domain names of websites it says were used for unlawfully disseminating, publishing and selling non-consensual deepfake videos, that the seizure was pursuant to a court order, and that its investigations were ongoing.","causal_attribution":"The official release directly establishes the date and content of the office's announcement. It does not establish the truth of the underlying allegations, identify the sites or operators, or report any charge."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Individuals under investigation allegedly used artificial-intelligence (“AI”) image and video creation tools to turn pre-existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people into what appear to be hyper-realistic images and videos of those individuals engaging in sexual conduct'; 'They then used these websites to disseminate, publish, and sell these videos and other similar non-consensual intimate imagery'; 'The approximately 1,200 victims of these websites and the content creators who use these websites to sell their NCII videos are overwhelmingly women and primarily public-facing individuals, including actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates, and social media influencers'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"da"},{"locator":"'Around 1,200 people—overwhelmingly women—were depicted in nonconsensual sexual images and videos on the websites, the office says'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"wired"}],"assertion":"The DA's office alleges that individuals under investigation used AI image and video creation tools to turn pre-existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people into sexual images and videos that were then published and sold on the sites, and describes the victims as overwhelmingly women and primarily public-facing figures (actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates and social media influencers).","causal_attribution":"The AI mechanism, the approximate figure and the description of the victims are the prosecuting office's allegations; WIRED attributes the same figure to the office, so the two passages share one origin. The figure is an estimate, not a documented minimum, and no counting method, ages or individual outcomes are given."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'WIRED independently observed several of the sites’ homepages being replaced by takedown notices'; 'late last week, with the sites now saying they have been taken over following a seizure warrant issued by a New York State Supreme Court'; 'Archived versions of the websites show some videos had been watched tens of thousands of times, with one of the websites claiming to have been online since 2018'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"wired"}],"assertion":"WIRED says it independently observed several of the sites' homepages replaced by seizure notices late in the week before the announcement, with the notices citing a seizure warrant issued by a New York State Supreme Court, and that archived versions of the sites showed some videos watched tens of thousands of times and one site claiming to have been online since 2018.","causal_attribution":"The reporter's own observations of the notices and archived pages. The warrant was not inspected, and a site's claim about its own age does not establish when any depiction was made."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Most videos took the shape of actual pornographic movies, manipulated to instead show targets’ faces instead of the original actors'; 'many videos appeared to be reposts of content that had originally be shared on the MrDeepFakes website'; 'On at least two of the seized websites, elected officials were given profiles containing their name and position, along with a grid of manipulated videos hosting their likeness'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"wired"}],"assertion":"A researcher at the American Sunlight Project told WIRED that most videos on the sites were pornographic films manipulated to show the targets' faces, that many appeared to be reposts of content first shared on the MrDeepFakes website, and that at least two of the seized sites gave elected officials profiles with their names and positions.","causal_attribution":"Researcher observations reported by WIRED. The article's politician figures combine people mentioned with people who appeared and are internally inconsistent, so they are not used as a tally of depicted people."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'These horrific violations of privacy follow victims into their careers and personal lives and take an immense toll on emotional and mental wellbeing'.","relation":"supports","source_id":"da"},{"locator":"'district attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement'.","relation":"context","source_id":"wired"}],"assertion":"District Attorney Bragg said the violations of privacy follow victims into their careers and personal lives and take an immense toll on emotional and mental wellbeing.","causal_attribution":"A general statement by the prosecutor about this kind of harm; it does not establish any individual's outcome."}],"effects":[{"label":"Non-consensual AI-generated sexual depictions of about 1,200 people (the DA's estimate) published and sold on 12 websites","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"da","url":"https://manhattanda.org/manhattan-d-a-s-office-seizes-domains-of-12-illegal-websites-selling-ai-generated-deep-fakes/","kind":"official_statement","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-07 (live HTTP 200; also read 2026-09-17 and 2026-10-06). Press release dated September 14, 2026 announcing the seizure of 12 domain names, the office's allegations about AI-created non-consensual imagery of approximately 1,200 people, the DA's statement and the ongoing investigation. The release does not name the sites or any operator.","independence_group":"manhattanda"},{"id":"wired","url":"https://www.wired.com/story/new-york-seizes-a-dozen-celebrity-deepfake-websites/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-07 (live HTTP 200; also read 2026-09-17 and 2026-10-06). WIRED, Sep 14, 2026 (Matt Burgess). Its 1,200 figure and the description of the victims are attributed to the DA's office and share that origin. Its own contributions are the reporter's observation of seizure notices before the announcement, archived-site observations and interviews with two researchers. The politician numbers it reports mix people mentioned with people who appeared and are not used as a count.","independence_group":"wired"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["An exact or minimum number of depicted people and the office's counting method; the 1,200 figure is an estimate.","When the depictions were created and published; one site claimed to have been online since 2018.","Which AI tools were used and where the generation, hosting and the depicted people were located.","The identities of the operators and uploaders; no arrests or charges are reported.","Ages of the depicted people and any individual outcome; the DA speaks generally about the toll on victims.","The seizure warrant and its date; WIRED reports it from the sites' notices and it was not inspected."],"geography":{"basis":"Court US: the seizure was executed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office under a court order, which WIRED reports as a New York State Supreme Court seizure warrant. Event unknown: no inspected source states where the depictions were generated or published or where the operators are, and the seat of the seizing authority does not locate the abuse. Affected people unknown: the depicted people are not enumerated, and WIRED's references to US, UK and European politicians mix people mentioned with people who appeared.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a bounded series of alleged non-consensual AI-generated sexual depictions: the DA's release describes AI image and video tools turning real people's photos and videos into sexual imagery sold on 12 seized sites, and a researcher quoted by WIRED describes face-swapped pornographic videos on those sites. The 14 September 2026 announcement is documented; the allegations, the approximately 1,200 estimate and the researcher observations are attributed and the dates and count of the depictions remain unknown. No individual victim is named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-07"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The DA's release states that individuals under investigation used AI image and video creation tools to turn pre-existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people into hyper-realistic sexual images and videos that were then disseminated, published and sold on the 12 seized sites; the non-consensual depiction and its sale are the reported harm. A researcher quoted by WIRED describes the videos on the sites as pornographic films manipulated to show the targets' faces, and WIRED reports the sites advertised the material as deepfakes. The specific tools, the original files and the generated material were not inspected, and the account of the AI mechanism rests on the prosecuting office.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["depicted_or_impersonated"]},"name":"Manhattan DA says 12 seized websites sold AI-generated sexual deepfakes of about 1,200 people; the depictions' dates and an exact count are not established","summary":"On 14 September 2026 the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced that it had seized, under a court order, 12 domain names of websites it says were used to disseminate, publish and sell non-consensual 'deepfake' videos, and said its investigations were ongoing. The office alleges that people under investigation used AI image and video creation tools to turn existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people, overwhelmingly women and mostly public-facing figures, into sexual images and videos that were then sold. The 1,200 figure is the office's estimate and is not a documented count. WIRED reported that it had observed seizure notices on several of the sites in the days before the announcement and quoted researchers who described the videos as pornographic films manipulated to show the targets' faces, many apparently reposted from the defunct MrDeepFakes site. When the depictions were made and published is not established; one site claimed to have been online since 2018.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-14","aiSystem":"AI image and video creation tools, not identified, which the Manhattan DA alleges were used to create the non-consensual sexual imagery","aiProduct":"Unidentified image and video tool","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The Manhattan DA alleges that about 1,200 real people, overwhelmingly women, were depicted without consent in AI-generated sexual images and videos published and sold on 12 websites it seized. The DA says such violations take an immense toll on victims' wellbeing and careers; no individual outcome, age or exact count is established.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"The DA's office gives an approximate estimate of 1,200 depicted people and WIRED attributes that figure to the office; neither source states an exact total, a lower bound or a counting method, so the numeric fields are zero placeholders for an unquantified count and the estimate stays in attributed prose. Twelve is the number of domains, not people. WIRED's politician numbers mix people mentioned with people who appeared and are not a count of depicted people. Audience figures (views) are not counted. The depicted people are not reported as users of the tools.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"investigation_opened","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://manhattanda.org/manhattan-d-a-s-office-seizes-domains-of-12-illegal-websites-selling-ai-generated-deep-fakes/","primarySourceLabel":"Manhattan District Attorney's Office press release, 14 September 2026: Office seizes domains of 12 illegal websites selling AI-generated deepfakes","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-17T03:27:44.31761+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-07T03:25:01.633732+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["deepfake","ncii","non-consensual-imagery","manhattan-da","new-york","celebrities","united-states","depicted-or-impersonated"]}]}