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When lawyer Stefanie Yuen Thio\u2019s colleague told her about suggestive videos and photos of her circulating on TikTok, an intense dread filled her.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have been deepfaked,\u201d the joint managing partner of TSMP Law Corporation and chairperson of SG Her Empowerment (SHE) wrote <\/span>in an Oct 19 LinkedIn post.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw those racy videos and photos of me, I felt shocked and confused \u2013 the images were fake yet disturbingly real,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Seeing that there was no nudity, her shock turned into \u201cstrange relief\u201d and then, \u201ca violent, palpable sense of violation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Deepfakes are realistic but fabricated videos, audio, or images generated with artificial intelligence (AI), making someone appear to say or do something they didn\u2019t. While they can be used for humour or creative experimentation, most deepfakes today are\u00a0<\/span>non-consensual AI pornography<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Fuelled by increasingly accessible AI tools, the number of these\u00a0<\/span>online deepfake videos<\/span> has since grown exponentially.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A report by Sumsub, a UK-based tech company specialising in online fraud, showed that the Asia-Pacific region recorded a 1,530 per cent rise in deepfake cases between 2022 and 2023, ranking second globally after North America.<\/span><\/p>\n A 2019 report by Sensity AI, a Netherlands-based AI threat detection platform, found that about 96 per cent of deepfakes were non-consensual sexual content, and over a staggering 90 per cent of\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/em>featured women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material \u2013 including deepfakes of mostly young girls \u2013 have also surged. According to the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, such cases jumped by 1,325 per cent, from 4,700 in 2023 to more than 67,000 in 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Singapore, <\/span>SHECARES<\/span>, a support centre run by SHE in collaboration with the Singapore Council of Women\u2019s Organisations, has handled over 440 cases of online harm since its launch in 2023, including deepfake and AI-generated pornography.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, How Kay Lii, the chief executive officer of SHE, highlighted that figures related to deepfake abuse likely represent a small fraction of actual cases, as many incidents go unreported.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A 2023 SHE survey found that young women aged 15 to 34 were twice as likely to experience online sexual harassment, including being deepfaked or sent intimate images without consent. In the same survey, more than 70 per cent of women aged 15 to 24 knew a female friend who had faced some form of online sexual harassment.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the Sensity AI report observed that most deepfake pornography targets female celebrities and women politicians, anyone can be a victim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Last year,\u00a0<\/span>South Koreans<\/span> held various public protests after several women were subjected to AI-generated porn by their peers in what was called the country\u2019s \u201c<\/span>deepfake porn crisis<\/span>\u201d. In Singapore, male students at the\u00a0<\/span>Singapore Sports School<\/span> created and shared\u00a0<\/span>deepfake nude images of their female classmates<\/span>. The father of one victim told CNA it wasn\u2019t \u201cjust one or two\u201d boys, but \u201ca huge group of boys\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sugidha Nithiananthan, AWARE\u2019s advocacy and research director, said: \u201cOnline sexual harms and deepfake abuse are growing more insidious and widespread, and women are more vulnerable than ever \u2013 both the law and society need to\u00a0<\/span>do more to keep up<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When Yuen Thio first saw the photos and videos of herself online, she wasn\u2019t sure what to believe \u2013 they looked so real. Despite having worked with SHE for over three years and knowing that online sexual violence is never the victim\u2019s fault, she still felt some self-blame and found herself wondering if she had invited it by being visible on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nTHE CONTENT IS FAKE, BUT THE VIOLATION IS REAL<\/h2>\n