Rapper Lil Baby has shut down claims that he is featured in a NSFW video circulating online.
The fuzzy recording was said to feature a man resembling the 28-year-old performing a sex act. It didn't take long for him to turn to his Instagram Story to hit back at internet rumours, calling it "dumb ass click bait" (sic).
"Y'all gotta stop using my name and likeness when y'all get bored, then the extremes mfs go to for clout is sick," he wrote to his 23.1 million followers. "Ain't no mystery in my history on NO LEVEL. This is my last time addressing any kind of dumb ass click bait."
While the source is unknown and it is unclear whether the footage was created through AI, there has recently been a surge in deepfake porn – mostly targeting female celebrities and influencers.
Cybersecurity expert and What the Hack podcast host Adam Levin previously explained to Indy100 that deepfake porn is created mainly for profit – but also a strange way for people to "show off editing skills and click trolling."
"This sort of content predates the web," Levin explained, "Because it is mostly a digital activity now, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to trace back content to the person who created it."
Worryingly, Levin explained that "as long as every party involved is a legal adult, there aren’t very many laws on the books to prevent or punish the distribution of illicit content."
He claimed "it’s nearly impossible to remove any content published online, pornographic or otherwise," before adding: "That said, if all the parties are known, there may be legally actionable kinds of deepfake porn content."
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