The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday that it has taken control of the CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com websites, which were accused of hosting nonconsensual AI-generated nude images and videos of women, marking what is believed to be the first publicly known domain seizure under the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
Per the DOJ, these sites disseminated sexually explicit digital content, or deepfakes, featuring politicians, celebrities, athletes, musicians, and even members of royalty from various nations.
"According to the probable cause affidavit supporting the seizure warrants, the digital forgeries were made to appear to be sexual images of famous women, including politicians, first ladies of multiple countries, royalty, journalists, television presenters, athletes, entertainers, and others," the DOJ announcement states.
A deepfake refers to AI-generated or AI-altered media that makes a person appear to say, do, or look like something that never happened. Such images and videos can be produced from existing photos, videos, or audio recordings and are frequently used to create nonconsensual nude content, impersonation scams, phishing schemes, and cryptocurrency fraud.
The CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com domains were seized on Thursday by the DOJ and Homeland Security Investigations after a federal judge determined there was probable cause that they were being used to violate the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
The domains now show a seizure notice indicating they were taken offline through a seizure warrant as part of a joint operation involving the United States, Italy, and France.
"THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Jersey Field Office pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey as part of coordinated law enforcement actions by HSI, French National Police, the Paris Prosecutor's Office, Italy's Polizia di Stato - Postal and Cybersecurity Police, United States Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey for violations of 47 U.S.C. Β§ 223," reads the seizure banner displayed on the websites.
"The TAKE IT DOWN ACT (47 U.S.C. Β§ 223) prohibits the nonconsensual publication of intimate imagery and digital forgeries (i.e., deepfakes). Violators are subject to fines, imprisonment or both."
The inquiry commenced after Italy's Postal and Cybersecurity Police alerted U.S. authorities to the existence of these websites.
According to Italian media reports, investigators launched a probe in October 2025 after receiving complaints about AI-generated sexually explicit images depicting women from politics, sports, entertainment, and other public-facing fields.
Italian authorities later secured a court order blocking access to the websites within Italy while continuing their investigation. The DOJ reports that evidence collected by U.S. law enforcement was subsequently shared with French officials.
French prosecutors and investigators then conducted a probe that resulted in the arrest of a suspect in Nice, France, on June 10, along with the confiscation of cryptocurrency allegedly tied to the operation.
The bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act was signed into law in May 2025 to address the spread of nonconsensual imagery, including AI-generated deepfake pornography. The legislation was championed by First Lady Melania Trump as part of her "Be Best" initiative.
The law makes it a federal crime to publish sexually explicit altered images depicting identifiable individuals without their consent. It also requires online platforms to remove reported intimate images and deepfakes within 48 hours of receiving a valid request from a victim.
"These domain seizures mark a significant victory in the fight against deepfake pornography," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in Friday's announcement.
"The TAKE IT DOWN Act, championed by First Lady Melania Trump, gives us the tools we need to combat the abuse and exploitation of women and children through these fabricated images."
The law was previously used against an Ohio man who pleaded guilty to charges related to creating AI-generated sexually explicit images.
However, the seizure of CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com appears to be the first publicly announced use of the law to target websites allegedly used to distribute deepfake pornography.
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