Revenge pornography and sexually explicit photos have been circulating Telegram groups for years. A new type of abuse is brought by artificial intelligence, which allows the user to "take off" clothes from any photo. These tools are readily available, anyone can use them, and anyone can be a victim. However, as a rule, these are almost exclusively women
In 2020, Adrijana Petković took an innocent selfie in the bathroom of her home in Knjaževac. Four years later, her husband was sent a photo by a colleague, which he received from another colleague - it showed Adriana without clothes, "undressed" by artificial intelligence. Her nightmare had begun.
"I am a mother of two small children, I have a family, parents, a stable and peaceful life and this was a huge shock for us." We live in a small place, all these were huge inconveniences for us," 25-year-old Adriana told BIRN.
"At that time, we called everyone we managed to find out who had contact with the picture and the last thing we found out was that someone had released it in the Telegram group 'Knjaževac - Bor' and that they were downloading it from there and sending it to each other." .
She reported the case to the police, and then waited two weeks for an answer. Finally, the police told her that they would warn the administrators of the Telegram group, but "that they can't do anything more than that because I wasn't blackmailed with that picture, but it was just, like that, shared in groups and messages", Adriana explains.
"I am neither the first nor the last," were the words of the inspector.
She hoped the police would identify the person who created her fake images and be able to press charges. The response of the police shocked her.
"I'm shocked that it's the most normal thing people do and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it." You don't have any help from the police," says Adriana.
The rise of deepfake pornography
Deepfake pornography is a form of abuse and misuse of photos or videos that are altered and turned into sexually explicit content by artificial intelligence (AI). The primary targets are women.
BIRN's research shows that dozens of pages and bots are currently active on Telegram that allow anyone to use AI to remove clothing from a photo with just a few clicks.
BIRN's journalist spent a month testing publicly available bots that are shared in popular Telegram groups in the Balkans. Some are paid and some offer a free trial. All are easy to use.
"The consequences are identical to when a real, unaltered photo of a woman, girl or girl with sexual content is published. It can even be worse, because the victim knows that she was not photographed like that, and cannot prove that she was not. Everyone who sees the photo automatically thinks it is," says Vanja Macanović, a lawyer at the Autonomous Women's Center, a non-governmental organization that provides legal and psychological assistance to victims of violence against women.
In Serbia, this practice is not explicitly prohibited by law, and women like Adrijana Petković have little choice but to file a private lawsuit if they find out who the perpetrator is.
The state must react, warns Macanović, or the situation will become even worse.
"Thus, the perpetrators of these crimes in Serbia remain unpunished, as do the platforms through which they are committed," she told BIRN.
If Serbia does not amend the Criminal Code, adds Macanović, "there will be more and more cases like this, and it will become the dominant form of peer violence against girls, as well as violence against women by ex-partners."
Deepfake pornography is being shared massively on Telegram
The ease with which an innocent photo can turn sexually explicit is deeply disturbing to many.
On Women's Day, March 8, 'Johnny', the administrator and owner of several Telegram groups known for sharing intimate photos of women without their knowledge and permission, posted two pictures of the popular singer Gota Tržan in the Balkan Porn group, which has more than 70.000 members.
In the first, which Tržan published on her Instagram page in 2020, the singer is at home and wearing a gray T-shirt; in the post published with the photo, Tržan informed her half a million followers about her challenges with in vitro fertilization.
Johnny then shared a new version of the photo, in which Trjan appears to be completely naked. On the same day in the same Telegram group, Johnny shared a photo of an unknown woman with dark hair in a pink summer shirt sitting in a cafe in Budva. Moments later, he shared another picture of the same woman, in the same place, completely naked.
Tržan told BIRN that the people who published the fake photos cannot hurt her.
"It can't hurt me, because I'm a public figure and I've been through all kinds of things, but there are some anonymous women that it can really seriously hurt, make their lives miserable for no reason at all."
"But that's obviously their goal, because if an anonymous woman appears in those photos, there's obviously some malicious intent involved." I ask them: do you have mothers, do you have sisters, relatives. Do you have any brains?” says Tržan.
More than a year ago, BIRN wrote about Johnny's role in the unauthorized sharing of intimate images, but he still freely and actively posts and administers Telegram groups.
BIRN then published the confessions of 28 women and girls across Serbia about the terrible consequences of revenge pornography.
After BIRN's investigation, Telegram shut down 16 groups whose members posted intimate photos and videos of women, but Johnny and his ilk simply opened new ones.
Over the course of just a few hours on March 8, Johnny shared a series of photos of different women 'undressed' by AI.
Currently, there are at least 20 Telegram groups whose members from the Balkans constantly share unauthorized intimate pictures and videos, which are regularly followed by vulgar and degrading comments about the appearance of women. Members of these groups promote or solicit links to so-called "female stripper bots" on a daily basis.
More than 700 million people use Telegram every day. While most use it for messaging, the platform allows users to create autonomous programs, or 'bots', that can generate deepfake nude photos. Telegram's terms of use clearly state that the platform may not be used to share pornographic material.
Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.
But Goca Tržan sent a clear message to the victims of deepfake pornography, urging them to stay strong.
"I want to say to women who this happens to, that they absolutely should not hide, because that is what they want to achieve - to hide, to be ashamed, to feel bad." Walk with your head straight and your eyes straight and clear, and anyone who asks you for that photo, delete it from your list of friends and relatives. You have nothing to be ashamed of", says Tržan.
Read the entire text on the website Birn.rs.
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