Google Search Returns Deepfake Pornography Sites in Denmark Study
A Danish nonprofit organization found that Google Search returned websites containing non-consensual deepfake pornography in 33% of results for the search term 'deepfake porn', compared to 0% on Bing. Though Google reportedly improved its ranking of such sites since a previous investigation, the organization called for complete removal rather than deprioritization.
What happened
Digitalt Ansvar investigated search engines' role in spreading non-consensual manipulated sexual videos. When searching for 'deepfake porn' on Google, 33 of 100 search results returned websites containing non-consensual manipulated sexual videos, compared to 0 of 100 on Bing.
A previous investigation by Digitalt Ansvar found 92 of 100 results returned such content on Google. The organization noted that material depicting women in sexual situations they never participated in is treated as criminal sexual abuse, not pornography, and is illegal in Denmark to create and distribute.
Reported impact
Ask Hesby Holm, director of Digitalt Ansvar, stated that Google shares responsibility for spreading these digital abuses by directing users to such material. The organization emphasized that victims experience harm from non-consensual false pornography involving themselves.
Index analysis
Google stated it designs its search engine to limit exposure to harmful or explicit content and continuously updates guidelines and reporting tools. Google noted that material is now harder to find than in the previous study, indicating deprioritization of websites containing such content.
Digitalt Ansvar acknowledged Google's improvements but called for complete removal of such sites, noting that Bing and DuckDuckGo achieve better results, indicating the issue is prioritization rather than technical limitations.
Governance controls
Google reported updating guidelines and reporting mechanisms to address the issue. The organization stated it does not want its search engine to show unexpectedly harmful or explicit content and acknowledged that no one should experience pain from non-consensual false pornography.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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