Teen Marvel star Xochitl Gomez speaks out about deepfakes
Marvel star and “Dancing With the Stars” performer Xochitl Gomez, 17, spoke about finding sexually explicit deepfakes with her face on social media.
A 17-year-old Marvel star and “Dancing With the Stars” performer, Xochitl Gomez, spoke out about finding nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes with her face on social media and not being able to get the material taken down.
During a Jan. 10 episode of “The Squeeze,” a podcast hosted by actor Taylor Lautner and his wife, Taylor Lautner, Gomez said she saw sexually explicit deepfakes of her on Twitter (now called X). Gomez, who plays America Chavez in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” said she asked her mother about the material and learned that her team had already tried and failed to get it removed.
“It made me weirded out and I didn’t like it and I wanted it taken down. That was my main thought process was, ‘Down. Take this down. Please,’” Gomez said during the podcast. “It wasn’t because I felt like it was invading my privacy, more just like it wasn’t a good look for me. This has nothing to do with me. And yet it’s on here with my face.”
In a search Friday, NBC News was able to easily find several deepfakes of Gomez on X. A representative for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NBC News reported in June 2023 that nonconsensual deepfakes of young female social media stars were circulating on X despite the platform’s rules against nonconsensual nudity. After reaching out to X, some but not all of the material was removed.
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