X lifts ban on Taylor Swift searches after spread of fake porn images
- Sexually explicit and abusive fake images of Taylor Swift began circulating widely last week on X
- In response, X briefly disabled queries for pop singer’s name but lifted the search ban on Monday
The search has been reactivated and the social media platform “will continue to be vigilant for any attempt to spread this content and will remove it if we find it,” Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, said in a statement.
Searches for Taylor Swift’s name on Sunday afternoon on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter yielded the error message: “Something went wrong. Try reloading”.
X had called the measure a temporary action done with “abundance of caution”.
One image of Swift, who was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 2023, shared on X was viewed 47 million times before the account was suspended, according to a New York Times report.
The ban on searches came after White House weighed in on Friday, calling the fake images “alarming” and highlighting that social media companies have a responsibility to prevent the spread of such misinformation.