Scrolling through social media while in the car one late February day Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saw something that would haunt her: A pornographic image featuring a fake digitized version of herself.
The photo showed a woman generated by artificial intelligence (AI) who appeared identical to the Democrat being forced to put her mouth on another’s genitals.
The image shook the New York progressive and stuck in her head all day.
‘There’s a shock to seeing images of yourself that someone could think are real,’ Ocasio-Cortez told Rolling Stone. ‘There are certain images that don’t leave a person, they can’t leave a person.’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has been the victim of countless deepfakes. Some fakes steal her identity to show a pornographic artificial version of her, others show her candidly walking alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk and others besmirch her with a fake mugshot
‘It’s not as imaginary as people want to make it seem,’ she continued.
‘It has real, real effects not just on the people that are victimized by it, but on the people who see it and consume it.’
Deepfakes – artificially-generated imagery that appear to be real humans – have proliferated in the last two years as AI tools have become cheaper and more widespread.
Deepfake pornography specifically has had a stratospheric rise in that same timespan.
In fact, deepfake pornography accounted for 98 percent of all deepfake videos posted online, according to a 2023 study done by Home Security Heroes, a cyber security firm.
Earlier this year, mega-star Taylor Swift had a similar experience to that of Ocasio-Cortez when AI-generated deepfake pornography of the pop artist began appearing on social media.
The fake adult content spread like wildfire online, quickly amassing millions of views.
Swift’s fans were outraged, and reportedly so was the singer and songwriter, who weighed taking legal action against the website that published the deepfake of her.
Inappropriate deepfake imagery of Ocasio-Cortez circulated online earlier this year
Another deepfake of the Democrat shows her holding hands with a deepfake version of Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Deepfakes parallel, ‘the same exact intention of physical rape and sexual assault,’ Ocasio-Cortez said, adding it’s ‘about power, domination, and humiliation.’
‘Deepfakes are absolutely a way of digitizing violent humiliation against other people.’
‘It’s so important to me that people understand that this is not just a form of interpersonal violence, it’s not just about the harm that’s done to the victim.’
‘Because this technology threatens to do it at scale — this is about class subjugation,’ she added.
But the manipulated media abuse against Ocasio-Cortez did not just start.
Photoshopped images, fake voice recordings and fabricated social media posts using her likeness have abounded since she first took office in 2019.
The difference now is, with AI tools, it is easier than ever before to create fake, lifelike images or videos of celebrities, lawmakers, business executives and even newscasters doing things they would never actually do.
So Ocasio-Cortez is crafting legislation in the House to enable victims of deepfakes to take civil action against the producers and distributors of such vile content.
‘Victims of nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes have waited too long for federal legislation to hold perpetrators accountable,’ she said in a March statement.
‘As deepfakes become easier to access and create — 96% of deepfake videos circulating online are nonconsensual pornography — Congress needs to act to show victims that they won’t be left behind.’
‘The DEFIANCE Act will allow victims to finally defend their reputations and take civil action against individuals who produced, distributed, or received digital forgeries,’ she continued.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is working on legislation with bipartisan support to give victims of deepfakes the right to sue those who ‘produced, distributed or received digital forgeries’
The bill would create a right for victims of ‘digital forgery’ to sue publishers who forge their likeness ‘using software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means.’
If the bill passes both chambers, it would be the first federal law protecting deepfake victims.
The measure has broad bicameral and bipartisan support too, with Republicans Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., backing it.
However, as Congress faces a myriad of legislative priorities such as foreign aid funding and border security, it is unclear when the DEFIANCE Act will get taken up in the House.
‘People increasingly, since the emergence of smartphones, have relied on the internet as a proxy for human experience,’ Ocasio-Cortez said.
‘And so if this becomes the primary medium through which people engage the world, at least in this country, then manipulating that becomes manipulating reality.’