The city of San Francisco has ordered Apple and Google to remove dozens of “nudify” apps — — software programs that can digitally alter pictures to unclothe the people in them — from their app stores.
California law criminalizes any activity that “knowingly facilitates” or “recklessly aids or abets” the creation of non-consensual deepfake pornography. In 2025, California also passed a law that allows victims to pursue civil actions against third-party facilitators of such material. The city says that, despite these well-known regulations, both tech companies have continued to host and make money from such programs.
“Apple and Google are profiting off apps that exploit women and girls by generating nonconsensual intimate deepfakes,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. “While the companies cut ties with some problematic apps, Apple and Google have a responsibility to be proactive and vigilant to prevent sexual abuse.”
Letters sent to Google and Apple by Chiu’s office, which were viewed by TechCrunch, note that the companies have “been on notice” for their role in “processing payments for illegal purchases for almost a year” but have, nevertheless, continued to do so.
According to the letters, both companies have been repeatedly warned that they are hosting these apps. In January and again in April, the Tech Transparency Project issued reports and sent letters to both companies noting that there were “dozens of apps” within their app stores that “sold deepfake NCII [non-consensual intimate images] in exchange for payments” from processed by the firms.
TTP’s report from April said that Google and Apple had intentionally “steered” users towards such apps and called both companies “key participants in the spread of AI tools that can turn real people into sexualized images.”
Additionally, Chiu told Wired that both companies had likely made “millions of dollars in fees” from apps that offered such services.
The letters from Chiu’s office warn that Apple and Google could face civil penalties for violating the law and request that they contact the city within 28 days.
TechCrunch reached out to Apple and Google for comment.
Deepfake pornography has largely been a problem for female celebrities, although nudify apps make it possible for anyone with a publicly available photo to be targeted.
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