What just happened? San Francisco has demanded that Apple and Google remove 13 AI-powered apps capable of creating nonconsensual nude images. City Attorney David Chiu has accused the companies of profiting from technology overwhelmingly used to target women and girls.
Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to the two tech giants on Thursday, demanding that they remove eight apps from Apple’s App Store and five from Google Play.
The programs are advertised primarily as face-swapping tools, but investigators found that they could also place people’s faces onto explicit images or generate fake nude content.
The letters accuse Apple and Google of “aiding and abetting” the sale of illegal deepfake pornography by hosting the apps, processing their in-app payments, and taking a cut of the proceeds. Chiu said the companies have likely earned millions of dollars in fees from theit cut of the apps’ sales.
San Francisco has given Apple and Google 28 days to explain how they will comply. The city could otherwise pursue civil enforcement carrying penalties of at least $25,000 per violation.
The demands also call on the companies to cut payment-processing ties with the developers and introduce recurring reviews designed to stop replacement apps from appearing.
Google said it had removed all five Android apps identified by Chiu’s office. The company added that it has suspended hundreds of apps containing nudification features and restricted related search terms such as “nudify.”
Apple said it removed three of the flagged apps and is terminating their developers’ accounts. Four other developers have been told to address policy violations or face removal. Both companies already prohibit pornography and abusive sexual content, which raises questions about how the apps made it through their review processes.
The problem isn’t limited to the named 13 programs. Two Tech Transparency Project investigations this year uncovered around 100 nudify-capable apps across both stores. They were estimated to have generated about $120 million in combined revenue and accumulated roughly 480 million downloads.
A separate Cornell and Georgetown study found 420 face-swap apps on the stores. Researchers tested 155 and discovered that 70% allowed users to place faces onto nude images without technical safeguards. None openly advertised itself as a nudification app, illustrating how seemingly ordinary photo tools can evade moderation.
San Francisco previously sued 16 of the most popular AI undressing websites in 2024, which had attracted 200 million visits during the first half of that year. Meta later sued the developer of Crush AI after more than 8,000 ads for the nudify service appeared on Facebook and Instagram in two weeks.
Last month, the Justice Department also seized two websites accused of publishing hundreds of thousands of deepfake nude images featuring famous women. Chiu warned that Apple and Google must become more proactive, adding that his office will consider further legal action if they fail to respond.
