Manhattan DA Seizes 12 Celebrity Deepfake Websites

Industry Pulse News Desk · 2026-09-14

Law enforcement officials take down websites targeting approximately 1,200 individuals in the largest legal action against illicit synthetic media operators.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has executed court orders to seize 12 websites dedicated to generating and distributing unauthorized deepfake media, marking the largest enforcement action against illicit synthetic media platforms to date.

According to law enforcement officials, the targeted web domains collectively victimized approximately 1,200 individuals, including high-profile celebrities and private citizens. The platforms relied on automated artificial intelligence tools to create non-consensual explicit imagery and manipulated video content using the likenesses of victimized subjects.

Federal and state law enforcement authorities worked alongside domain registrars and infrastructure providers to shut down the servers hosting the illicit platforms. Traffic directed to the affected domain addresses is now routed to official law enforcement notice pages confirming the domain seizures.

The coordinated takedown follows an extensive cybercrime investigation into commercial deepfake services that generated revenue through subscription fees and pay-per-image models. Investigators are currently reviewing financial records, payment processor logs, and digital wallet transactions linked to the website operators.

Prosecutors stated that the seizure of the technical infrastructure is part of an ongoing effort to combat digital abuse and hold operators of non-consensual media networks accountable. Additional criminal charges and financial forfeiture proceedings remain under evaluation as the investigation proceeds.