Let’s Stop Nudification Apps Together!

Non-consensual sexualisation tools (NSTs) are apps and websites which use AI to create sexualized images of real people (“deep fakes”), irrespective of whether they have given consent.

NSTs are often called “nudify apps.” But while some tools allow full nudity, they can also include sexualization via (for example) images in underwear or swimsuits − as seen recently on the X chatbot Grok. We are also looking for “undressing” tools.

Some of these tools have had substantial usage and impact, with targets ranging from celebrities to even schoolchildren. AlgorithmWatch has previously reported on cases in Spanish schools, and Spiegel reports: “At more than 500 schools and universities in South Korea, naked images of young women and girls were created using Al in 2024. The deepfakes were shared in large chat groups on Telegram and used in some cases to blackmail the victim.”

These tools are hosted and circulated through a range of networks, sites, and online services (the Guardian, Bellingcat), including Telegram, Discord channels (404 Media, Wired), and very large platforms and app stores (Graphika, Context).

• We are investigating five platforms which can be used to share NSTs amongst very large audiences: X, Facebook, Instagram, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store.
• We are collecting reports of NSTs (for example on social media) and building a tool to detect content and accounts which are helping to advertise and spread NSTs. You can help us! Fill in our form.
• By detecting NSTs, we can report them to platforms using their DSA reporting forms to get the NSTs taken down, and also build an evidence base of how they spread online.

• The DSA is an EU regulation which places requirements on online services, with particular requirements falling on services with over 45 million monthly users in the EU, so called Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs). These include the five platforms we are investigating: X, Facebook, Instagram, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store.
• The DSA clearly states (Articles 34 and 35) that large online platforms and search engines must mitigate systemic risks in the EU. One of the listed systemic risks is “actual or foreseeable negative effects in relation to gender-based violence.”
  
  This means that VLOP/VLOSEs must take proactive and effective measures to mitigate the circulation of NSTs, encouraged if need be by the threat of DSA enforcement by the EU Commission.
  
  
• The DSA also states (Article 40.12), that these platforms and search engines must provide access to public data to research organizations that are researching systemic risks − such as AlgorithmWatch.

• In June we requested publicly accessible data under Article 40.12 of the DSA. We now have access to data from Apple and Google. We are still discussing with Meta about data for Facebook and Instagram. But X has refused to provide data.
• X’s refusal just says that “your application fails to demonstrate that your proposed use of X data is related to the specified systemic risks in the EU as described by Art. 34 of the Digital Services Act.” They have used this exact text to refuse many other requests (as found by the DSA Data Access Collaboratory) − so it seems to be their default excuse.
• We complained to X about this via their online form on 23 July 2025, but have received no answer.
• We are contacting the European Commission about this issue − proper enforcement of the DSA against X, which we have been awaiting for months, needs to happen!

We are aware that NSTs are part of a bigger problem. Digital violence is very complex and has many facets. We want to use this research as a starting point, and will continue to learn, research, create awareness, and engage for change!