Xochitl Gomez Takes on Twitter as Sexually Explicit Deepfakes Run Rampant

Seeing an AI version of Tom Hanks promoting dental plans is one thing. It’s quite another to have your sexually explicit deepfakes go viral on Twitter (now called X).

This is the hell that Latina teen star Xochitl Gomez has been going through. The 17-year-old actress, known for her role on Marvel and her appearance on “Dancing With The Stars,” has been doing everything she can to get non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes with her face removed on social media. 

So far, she has been unsuccessful.

As she discussed on an episode of actor Taylor Lautner’s “The Squeeze” podcast, Gomez said she asked her mother about the material and learned that her team had already tried and failed to take it down.

“It weirded me out, and I didn’t like it, and I wanted it taken down. That was my main thought process: ‘Take it down. Take this down. Please,'” Gomez said during the podcast. “It wasn’t because I felt it was invading my privacy, more because it wasn’t a good look for me. This has nothing to do with me. And yet it’s here with my face on it.”

Deepfakes are everywhere and don’t seem to stop

Deepfakes are undoubtedly the dark side of artificial intelligence technology. It enables the creation of “realistic-looking but entirely fabricated content,” the “Economic Times” explained.

“In essence, deepfakes use deep learning algorithms, particularly generative adversarial networks (GANs), to create convincing and highly realistic fake media,” the Times continued.

While entertainers such as Tom Hanks, Rashmika Mandanna, and Scarlett Johansson have all been targets of deepfake technology, Gomez’s case sets off the alarm about the impact on minors.

As “NBC News” explained, there is currently no federal legislation in the U.S. addressing non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.

So Gomez and her family are fighting alone and demanding that Twitter monitor and take down the content of its own volition.

“Why is it so hard to take down? That was my whole thought about it: ‘Why is this allowed?” Gomez said. “In my mind, I knew it wasn’t me, so it didn’t bother me or anything like that. It was just something that I felt very uncomfortable because I couldn’t take it off.”

“Nothing good comes out of thinking about it,” she added. “I put the phone down […] I take care of my skin, go out with my friends, something to help me forget what I just saw.”