Redmond, September 6: Microsoft has taken strict steps towards the rising problem of deepfake porn. The tech giant has announced a tool for the victims that would scrub images from Bing searches. GenAI has been considered good but has had problems with several users since its advancement. The rise of deepfake technology has created issues for people whose faces have been used in the nude. Deepfake pornography enables people to replace faces with real-life people. 

Scammers have been inviting other people to send their nudes on social media, which they use against them to blackmail and extort money. Such scams have been happening for many years since the advent of social media platforms. However, Microsoft partnered with StopNCII (Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse), an online tool designed to protect people from sharing their intimate images. Cyber Security Is More Than Protecting Personal Data, Says ISRO Chief S Somanath.

The victims who fall prey to the people running revenge porn can create their unique digital fingerprints on the images on their devices, whether they are real or fake. The partners of StopNCII would then use the "hash" (digital fingerprint) to remove the images from their platforms. This tool has been effective in protecting privacy. 

According to a report by Techcrunch, Microsoft reportedly said it partnered with the StopNCII tool and took down over 2.68 lakh explicit images from Bing at the end of August 2024. The tech giant reportedly offered a direct reporting tool; however, it was not enough, as per the company.

The rival Google provides tools that help users remove explicit images from search results. However, the report mentioned that Google faced criticism from its employees over not partnering with StopNCII as the tech giant and its video platform YouTube reported 1.7 lakh searches in South Korea for unwanted sexual content. 

The rise of AI deepfake makes it impossible for anyone to identify it as a fake video. Also, the widespread use of deepfake technology for revenge porn makes it difficult to track unless reported. Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse tool works for people over 18, but the report said that the "undressing" sites posed a greater threat to high school-going students. Spam Callers Banned: Following TRAI Stringent Directives, Telecom Service Providers Block Over 50 Entities and 2.75 Lakh Mobile Numbers.

Besides Microsoft, other tech giants have already partnered with StopNCII including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, OnlyFans, PornHub, Reddit, etc.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2024 02:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).