What do you expect? You're part of the internet: Analyzing Celebrities' Experiences as Usees of Deepfake Technology

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Authors: John Twomey, Sarah Foley, Sarah Robinson, Michael Quayle, Matthew Peter Aylett, Conor Linehan, Gillian Murphy

Published: 2025-07-17 12:31:12+00:00

AI Summary

This paper utilizes Critical Discursive Psychological analysis to explore how celebrity women and non-binary individuals, as "Usees" of deepfake technology, construct their experiences of being targeted by non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery (NSII). It reveals the profound harms and distress caused by deepfakes, alongside the significant infrastructural and social obstacles that impede their ability to seek recourse. The study highlights how these issues are exacerbated by blaming narratives, silencing mechanisms, and the deepfake industry itself.

Abstract

Deepfake technology is often used to create non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery (NSII), mainly of celebrity women. Through Critical Discursive Psychological analysis we ask; i) how celebrities construct being targeted by deepfakes and ii) how they navigate infrastructural and social obstacles when seeking recourse. In this paper, we adopt Baumers concept of Usees (stakeholders who are non-consenting, unaware and directly targeted by technology), to understand public statements made by eight celebrity women and one non-binary individual targeted with NSII. Celebrities describe harms of being non-consensually targeted by deepfakes and the distress of becoming aware of these videos. They describe various infrastructural/social factors (e.g. blaming/ silencing narratives and the industry behind deepfake abuse) which hinder activism and recourse. This work has implications in recognizing the roles of various stakeholders in the infrastructures underlying deepfake abuse and the potential of human-computer interaction to improve existing recourses for NSII. We also contribute to understanding how false beliefs online facilitate deepfake abuse. Future work should involve interventions which challenge the values and false beliefs which motivate NSII creation/dissemination.

Key findings

Celebrities targeted by deepfakes describe the abuse as non-consensual manipulation of identity and sex work, causing significant distress and linking to broader gendered violence. They highlight how internet platforms, financial incentives, and media publicity create substantial infrastructural and social obstacles to seeking recourse, often leading to victim blaming and silencing. Victims face an ideological dilemma where public advocacy, while essential for change, paradoxically intensifies their reputational damage and harassment.

Approach

The authors apply Critical Discursive Psychology to public statements of celebrity deepfake victims to understand their experiences as "Usees" (non-consenting, unaware, and directly targeted individuals). This qualitative analysis explores how victims construct non-consent, awareness, and targeting, while also examining how internet platforms, financial factors, and publicity impact their search for recourse.

Datasets

A custom corpus of 19,202 words, collected from public statements and news interviews of 9 celebrities (8 women and 1 non-binary individual) across 12 sources (including tweets, vlogs, interviews, podcasts, videos, TikTok posts, and text statements).

Model(s)

UNKNOWN

Author countries

Ireland, South Africa, United Kingdom

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