South African impersonation account holder @AdvBarryRoux's account was recently suspended by X.
X, formerly known as Twitter, has stepped in to stop the sharing of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated nudes of Taylor Swift that were trending on social media.
The blatant fake image has been viewed and re-shared countless times on X. Posts and accounts that shared fake images of her were flagged by her fans, who reportedly embedded real images and videos of her on the platform using the words “Save Taylor Swift.” . BBC.
When a user searches for an image, they see the message “Something went wrong.” Try reloading. ”
X released a statement on Friday confirming the images had been removed from the platform.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy against such content. Our team will proactively remove all images identified and take appropriate action against the accounts that posted them. We are taking the following steps.”
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The outrage over the image was so great that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned it during a media briefing.
“We know that lax enforcement disproportionately affects women and, sadly, the overwhelming target: girls. ” said Jean-Pierre. She added that legislation should be enacted to address the impact of AI on social media.
“We believe they have an important role to play in enforcing their own rules to prevent the spread of misinformation and non-consensual intimate images of real people.”
“These deepfake platforms have the potential to cause social unrest and civil unrest when used to spread misinformation and disinformation in political and election campaigns, and in today's digital society, this is certainly the case. It’s a risk factor,” said Anna Corrado, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA. .
KnowBe4 is a South African IT security company that recently conducted a study highlighting the need to strengthen cyber security measures.
AI in Africa
“Aside from abusing these platforms, such as when creating deepfake porn images of Taylor Swift, using these tools to impersonate someone you know can lead to phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks,” Corrado said. It has the potential to increase the effectiveness of
The study, titled 'KnowBe4 Africa Cybersecurity and Awareness Report 2023', was conducted in 2022 and surveyed 800 employees aged 18-54 in Mauritius, Egypt, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya. Results were announced in 2023.
It found that 74% of respondents believed an email, direct message, or photo or video communication was real, when it was actually a deepfake.
Since 2019, the organization has conducted annual surveys across Africa to assess whether people living on the continent are prepared for the security threats that come with progress.
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@AdvBarryRoux's account has been suspended
Popular impersonator X account @AdvBarryRoux was recently suspended by the social media platform. @AdvBarryRoux is notorious for “file drops” that share proprietary information held only by central intelligence agencies such as the Hawks, and has been seen as an insider with extensive access to sensitive information. This caused his number of followers to skyrocket.
“The account is still suspended, but please follow this account until then for better content,” he wrote, sharing his new account.
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