Someone Made a Fake Nude of You

It is not you. It looks like you. That is enough. Someone took an ordinary photo, a profile picture, a work headshot, a tagged photo from a friend, and ran it through an app that undressed it. Now it is moving through group chats, fake accounts, and websites. You did not consent to any of it, and none of it is your fault.

The law treats an AI fake as seriously as a real image for takedown and criminal prosecution. Your right to sue depends on where you live. The order matters: proof first, takedown second, then the person who posted it and, in some cases, the company whose tool made it.

Save the Proof Before You Report

The report button deletes your evidence. Before you report anything, screenshot every post with the web address visible and write down account names, dates, and times. If the image carries a watermark, logo, or caption naming the app that made it, capture that too. It may identify a company you can hold responsible.

If the person in the image is under 18, do not save or screenshot the image itself. Record the web addresses and accounts only, and report it to NCMEC's CyberTipline and to police. Possessing a sexual image of a minor is a crime even when it is fake.

Get It Down Fast

StopNCII.org creates a digital fingerprint of the image on your own device and shares only that fingerprint with participating platforms, which can then block matching uploads. It accepts AI fakes. For images of anyone under 18, NCMEC's Take It Down works the same way. Google has a removal form specifically for fake pornography in search results.

Since May 19, 2026, the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove an intimate image, including an AI fake, within 48 hours of a valid request. If a platform ignores you, report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.

If the fake was built from a photo you took yourself, a copyright notice is often the fastest route of all. We can send it so your contact information is not handed to the poster.

What Federal Law Does and Does Not Do

The TAKE IT DOWN Act makes publishing a nonconsensual intimate image, real or fake, a federal crime, with up to 2 years in prison, or 3 years if the victim is a minor. Threatening to publish a fake is a separate crime. But the Act gives you no right to sue. It gets the image down and puts the poster at risk of prosecution.

A federal civil claim exists for real intimate images, but whether it covers AI fakes is unsettled. The DEFIANCE Act would close that gap with damages of $150,000, or $250,000 when tied to sexual assault, stalking, or harassment. It passed the Senate in January 2026. It has not passed the House and is not law.

Suing the Person Who Posted It

For now, your claim for money usually comes from state law. Pennsylvania covers AI-generated sexual depictions of anyone and lets victims sue for damages, triple damages, and attorney fees. New Jersey's 2025 deepfake law gives victims actual and punitive damages and attorney fees. New York gives victims a specific claim for digitally created sexually explicit images. Texas expanded its civil law to cover AI-generated intimate material. Not every state that makes this a crime also lets you sue, so where you live matters.

The poster who hid behind a fake account is usually not as hidden as they think. Platforms keep upload records, IP addresses, email accounts, and payment records. We preserve those records with a letter and obtain them with a subpoena.

Holding Platforms and AI Companies Accountable

Federal law, Section 230, usually shields websites from paying damages for what their users post. That does not mean they get to ignore you. We use the 48-hour federal deadline, FTC complaints, copyright notices, search delisting, and subpoenas to make platforms act and to make them identify the poster.

The companies that build undressing tools are a different matter, and this is new ground. Their tools create the image rather than simply hosting it. San Francisco sued the operators of 16 nudify websites in 2024, and most have since shut down. Victims have sued the maker of the Grok AI tool over sexualized fakes of real women and girls. Those cases are early, and the companies argue they are protected. If an AI tool made the fake of you, preserve everything that identifies the tool.

Your Face Is Yours

When someone uses your face to make money, through a site driving traffic, an account selling access, or an ad, you may also have a claim for misuse of your name and likeness. In Pennsylvania that claim is 42 Pa.C.S. § 8316.

Get Help Now

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative runs a free Image Abuse Helpline 24 hours a day at 1-844-878-2274. Contact Gabriel Vincent Tese, Esq. at Spector Gadon Rosen Vinci, PC (gtese@sgrvlaw.com) for a confidential consultation.

The image is fake. The harm is real. You are not the one with something to answer for.