When it’s the women being sexualized against their consent, their take seems to be the most relevant, so have a read.
A couple of days ago, popular streamer Atrioc got caught on stream with a tab open on a deepfake website. A deepfake refers to media that has been generated or altered by AI. This particular deepfake website sold graphic images and videos of women Twitch streamers, including popular personalities like QTCinderella, Pokimane, and Maya Higa. Later Atrioc hosted a stream where he apologized a couple of hours later but the damage was done.
Repercussions of Atrioc getting caught
While the streamer alleges he only did it once and got trapped in a ‘rabbit hole’ of curiosity, the female personalities involved are understandably upset. Firstly, someone they’d considered a friend and co-worker had looked up and paid for fake graphic content of them without their consent.
As the clip went viral, the search volume for deepfakes in general as well as individual searches of the women skyrocketed.
QTcinderella’s boyfriend and fellow streamer Ludwig said that she and several other female streamers spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to keep sexualized content of themselves off the web. An expense that has nothing to do with the content they want to make, but something they have to shell out to protect themselves online.
Here’s what the female streamers had to say about Atrioc’s actions and the entire concept of graphic deepfakes made without their knowledge or consent:
The points these women make only touch upon the magnitude of the issue. Currently, in the United States, 46 states have laws against sharing graphic or sexually explicit images of people without consent, but only California and Virginia have regulations that make sharing deepfakes images illegal. Another factor is that a lot of this content comes from other countries, making the legal process to combat deepfakes even more difficult and expensive.
Atrioc’s attempt to make amends
Atrioc posted a follow-up twitlonger where he apologized again and said that he would do whatever he can to fight the damage his actions have caused. He mentioned that the deepfake website had already been taken down due to the actions of QTCinderella and Ryan Morrison’s law firm.
Atrioc said would cover the financial cost of the takedown as well as the legal fees for all women using Morrison's law firm's services to remove unwanted content from the web. Additionally, he stated he was engaging more law firms to continue to remove this content from other areas of the internet such as Reddit.
The streamer also mentioned he would be stepping away from content creation and his company OFFBRAND to focus on this issue and “trying to combat the damage caused.”
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest streamer news and updates.