Technology
San Francisco AG pressures Apple and Google to purge nudification apps from stores
Authorities say the platforms have profited from tools that non-consensually generate explicit images, primarily targeting women and children.
Ars Technica
San Francisco's attorney general has escalated enforcement against deepfake pornography by ordering Apple and Google to immediately remove 13 nudification applications from their respective app stores.
These tools exploit artificial intelligence to strip clothing from photographs and manipulate images in sexually explicit ways—swapping faces onto nude bodies, altering physical features, or placing victims into sexualized scenarios. The technology enables rapid abuse at scale, with enforcement officials expressing alarm at how freely such apps distribute harm across both platforms.
What regulators are alleging#
In cease-and-desist letters, Attorney General David Chiu accused the tech giants of knowingly violating California law that prohibits services supporting non-consensual intimate imagery. According to reporting on the enforcement action, Chiu estimates that Apple and Google have collectively earned millions in app store fees from these tools while failing to implement adequate safeguards.
The agency's letter to Google targeted five apps; Apple faced demands regarding eight applications. One app in question had surpassed one million downloads and explicitly marketed the ability to sexualize women's images and produce "free and uncensored" content.
The human cost#
Victims are predominantly women and girls, authorities say. The generated imagery fuels harassment campaigns designed to damage reputation and psychological wellbeing. Chiu stated that some survivors have experienced suicidal ideation as a direct result of image-based abuse.
"Generating non-consensual intimate images is illegal, harmful, and completely unacceptable," Chiu told media outlets investigating the enforcement action.
Industry response#
Google confirmed to Ars Technica that the five flagged applications were already suspended from its Play Store for policy violations, noting that the company "continually takes proactive steps to detect and remove apps with harmful content." The platform also said it has restricted related search terms including "nudify" to limit discoverability.
Apple has not yet issued a public statement on the directive.
