Following Taylor Swift's prominent presence at the AFC Championship game, where the Kansas City Chiefs emerged victorious against the Baltimore Ravens, X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has reinstated the ability to search for the superstar.
Swift's Absence and X's Response
Over the weekend, X temporarily disabled searches for Taylor Swift in response to the proliferation of AI-generated explicit images of the singer across various social media platforms. These deepfake images, depicting Swift in sexually explicit scenarios, circulated rapidly, prompting X to take decisive action.
Throughout this period, Taylor Swift remained silent on the matter.
Today, as genuine images of Swift celebrating the Chiefs' triumph and their entry into the upcoming Super Bowl alongside her boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for KC, flooded the media, X announced the restoration of searches for Swift.
According to Variety, the company, led by Linda Yaccarino, released a statement on Monday evening confirming reinstating the search feature and reaffirming their commitment to swiftly removing inappropriate content.
Deepfake Controversy Unfolds
The controversy erupted when deepfake images of Taylor Swift began circulating on X last Wednesday. Utilizing artificial intelligence technology, these images were created from existing photographs of the singer, depicting her in compromising and explicit situations.
According to Deadline, the graphic images were initially uploaded to Celeb Jihad and spread across various social media platforms. Within 19 hours, the photos amassed over 27 million views and garnered more than 260,000 likes before the account responsible for posting them was suspended.
In response to the onslaught of explicit content, Taylor Swift's devoted fan base flooded social media platforms with messages of support and calls to protect the singer's privacy. Hashtags such as "Taylor Swift AI" and "Protect Taylor Swift" gained traction on X, reflecting the collective outrage and solidarity among Swift's fans.
Photo: Rosa Rafael/Unsplash