San Francisco Orders Apple, Google to Remove AI Nudify Apps

San Francisco's city attorney has issued cease-and-desist letters to Apple and Google, demanding the immediate removal of 13 apps that enable users to create nonconsensual nude images through AI face-swapping technology.

City Attorney David Chiu sent the legal notices on Thursday, ordering both companies to delete eight apps from the App Store and five from the Play Store. The letters accuse the Silicon Valley giants of "aiding and abetting" the sale of explicit deepfake images and call for them to terminate business relationships with the developers behind these tools.

The Scale of the Problem

The targeted apps market themselves as general face-swapping tools but contain features that allow users to generate sexualized images once downloaded. One app with over 1 million downloads advertises styles including "bikini queen curvy" and "cinematic intimacy" on its website. Another claims to produce "free and uncensored" videos.

Chiu's office estimates that Apple and Google have likely earned millions of dollars in fees from these apps through in-app payment systems. According to research from the Tech Transparency Project, similar apps across both platforms have been downloaded approximately 480 million times collectively and may have generated around $120 million in combined revenues.

A preprint study from Cornell University and Georgetown University researchers identified 420 face-swapping apps on both stores. When they tested 155 of these apps, 70 percent could be used to create face swaps with nude images, despite not being advertised as nudification tools.

Why it matters

This enforcement action highlights a critical gap in app store moderation that has allowed harmful AI technology to reach hundreds of millions of users. The dual-use nature of these apps—appearing benign while enabling abuse—exposes how platform policies fail to prevent technology that disproportionately targets women and girls. With deepfake incidents documented in at least 90 schools and victims reporting severe mental health impacts, the financial incentives for tech giants to host these apps create direct complicity in digital sexual abuse at scale.

Platform Responses

Google spokesperson Dan Jackson confirmed the company has removed the five Android apps flagged by Chiu's office, along with "hundreds" of other apps with nudifying features. The company has also restricted search terms like "nudify" on its store and says it takes proactive steps to detect harmful content.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

Both companies maintain developer policies prohibiting pornography, abuse, and harassment, and have previously removed dozens of nudify and deepfake apps following reports from researchers and journalists.

Legal and Social Impact

Chiu emphasized that generating nonconsensual intimate images violates California law and causes severe harm to victims. "These images are used to bully, humiliate, and threaten women and girls," he said, noting impacts on reputation, mental health, and autonomy, with some victims experiencing suicidal ideation.

The city attorney's office previously took legal action against 16 deepfake websites and says it will continue pursuing the issue. Chiu stated that if Apple and Google do not comply, his office will consider all legal options.

These details were first reported by WIRED.