NEW YORK, N.Y. — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that his office has seized 12 domain names used to distribute and sell alleged artificial intelligence-generated, nonconsensual sexual videos involving approximately 1,200 people.

The affected individuals are overwhelmingly women and include musicians, actors, athletes, politicians, social-media influencers and other public-facing figures, according to the district attorney’s office.

The domains were seized pursuant to a court order while a criminal investigation continues. The action is not a conviction or final finding of liability, and prosecutors have not announced indictments against the investigated website operators or content creators through this action.

A shift from removing videos to seizing infrastructure

The enforcement action is significant because authorities targeted the domains and commercial infrastructure allegedly supporting the material—not merely individual videos or platform posts.

Bragg’s office said the websites were almost entirely dedicated to AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery and explicitly advertised the material as deepfake pornography. Investigators are continuing to examine the websites, their operators and people who allegedly uploaded or sold the videos.

The underlying warrant or seizure order has not been publicly linked, so the court’s complete probable-cause record and every alleged offense are not available for independent review.

Why radio, music and media should pay attention

AI impersonation is becoming a direct talent-protection issue. Radio hosts, musicians, journalists and other recognizable media personalities can have their faces, voices and identities misused in fraudulent advertisements, fabricated programming or abusive synthetic content.

New York’s action shows that law enforcement may pursue the websites and infrastructure monetizing the abuse rather than leave every affected person to fight each fake individually.

  • Stations should preserve screenshots, links, dates and other evidence before requesting removal.
  • Talent agreements and station policies should clearly address cloned voices, synthetic likenesses and unauthorized endorsements.
  • Management should establish a rapid reporting path for hosts, employees and guests whose identities are misused.
  • Media companies should verify authorization before commissioning or distributing AI-generated likenesses.

Radio stations and music-testing services are not implicated merely because they test ordinary AI tools or broadcast properly authorized material. Risk increases when a company creates, commissions, distributes or profits from an unauthorized impersonation.

What this case does not decide

This action concerns the alleged creation, sale and distribution of abusive AI outputs and impersonations. It does not determine whether copying copyrighted material to train an AI model is lawful.

The Radio News Now angle: Deepfake abuse is no longer only a platform-moderation problem. New York prosecutors are demonstrating that authorities can seek court orders against the domains and business infrastructure behind synthetic identity exploitation.

Primary sources: Manhattan District Attorney’s official announcement and New York Criminal Procedure Law Article 690.

This report provides general information and is not legal advice.