The U.S. Justice Department and Homeland Security shut down two major websites yesterday that were packed with thousands of fake, explicit images and videos of famous women. The domains, CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com, were seized under the newly enacted TAKE IT DOWN Act.
Operation Details
Court documents show the sites hosted digitally forged nudes of politicians, first ladies, royalty, journalists, athletes, and entertainers. Users could even search the manipulated content using disturbing tags like “rape,” “forced,” and “degradation.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the operation a major milestone. “These domain seizures mark a significant victory in the fight against deepfake pornography,” Blanche said. “The TAKE IT DOWN Act, championed by First Lady Melania Trump, gives us the tools we need to combat the abuse and exploitation of women and children through these fabricated images. The Department of Justice will vigorously enforce this law and deliver justice for victims.”
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin echoed that sentiment, calling the takedown a “massive win” to stop the exploitation of victims. He promised that this operation is just the first of many wins to stop similar websites.
Investigation and Collaboration
The investigation was a global effort. It started when Italy’s Postal and Cybersecurity Police flagged the sites to U.S. law enforcement. American investigators then gathered evidence and shared it with French authorities through an international cybercrime agreement. That collaboration paid off quickly. On June 10, French police made an arrest in Nice, France, and seized related cryptocurrency.
“Taking down CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com halted the publication of non-consensual, sexually explicit digital forgeries that harmed the women they depicted,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. He added that the department stands ready to enforce the new law to uphold basic principles of consent.
For the victims, the impact of these fake images is severe. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer from the District of New Jersey pointed out that the sites trafficked in massive humiliation and privacy violations.
“For the victims whose images were distributed without their consent, the harm is not virtual — it is deeply personal and often enduring,” Frazer said. He also offered a warning to anyone running similar operations: “Those who use the internet to exploit others should not mistake online anonymity for immunity.”
Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.
