Pokimane, QTCinderella & Sweet Anita respond after Atrioc deepfake drama
Twitch, Pokimane / QTCinderella, Instagram / Sweet Anita, YouTubeAfter Atrioc revealed that he had paid for deepfakes of explicit content featuring several prominent streamers, Pokimane, QTCinderella, and Sweet Anita gave their perspectives on the issue.
There was an outpouring of anger towards Twitch streamer Atrioc after he accidentally revealed that he was subscribed to a website that hosted faked AI images. The website included explicit photos of several fellow streamers.
Atrioc gave a tearful apology on stream afterward the situation was revealed, saying: “It’s gross and I’m sorry. It’s so embarrassing.”
However, the streamers who were victims of these deepfakes have begun to express their anger at this predatory practice now that they have discovered it exists.
Pokimane, QTCinderella, & Sweet Anita slam deepfakes
One of the biggest and most influential streamers on Twitch, QTCinderella, expressed her outrage at those who were sharing the explicit images and the website that hosted them.
“Everybody f*cking stop. Stop spreading it. Stop advertising it.”
She also gave her perspective on how this violation feels, saying “[b]eing seen ‘naked’ against your will should NOT BE A PART OF THIS JOB.”
Fellow streamer Sweet Anita expanded on these feelings, saying that the creator of this content “solicits my body without my consent… Don’t know whether to cry, break stuff, or laugh.”
The most-followed female streamer on Twitch, Pokimane, also spoke out on the situation a day later in a succinct tweet asking people to “stop sexualizing people without their consent.”
BrookeAB hit back at the “awful takes” she’s seen about the ongoing issue on social media, as well.
“We are real humans with real lives that are affected by situations like these,” she said. “it goes much further than ‘it’s not real,’ please have some compassion and think beyond it not affecting you in any way.”
Other prominent streamers expressed their agreement with these perspectives and offered their support to these two, as well as other broadcasters who had been similarly exploited.
QTCinderella promises to sue founder of deepfake website
That’s not all; QTCinderella claimed she would sue the founder of the deepfake website in a tearful live stream where she opened up with fans on the negative emotional impact the site was taking on her mental health.
“It should not be part of my job to have to pay money to get this stuff taken down,” she said. “And to the person who made that website? I’m going to f*cking sue you. I promise you. With every part of my soul, I’m going to sue you.”
(Topic begins at 2:55)
According to the MIT Technology Review, in the United States, 46 states have laws against the sharing of sexually explicit images or videos of someone without their consent, commonly known as “revenge porn.”
However, only two of these states – California and Virginia – have laws in place that also prohibit the sharing of faked or deepfaked images.
Victims of intimate image abuse can get support and help by contacting the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative on their website or by calling the CCRI intimate image abuse helpline which is free of charge, 24/7, at 1-844-878-2274.
