For the second time since his deepfake p*rnography controversy, Twitch streamer Brandon “Atrioc” went live on the network to give another report on his campaign to banish deepfakes from the internet.
He apologized in January after inadvertently displaying an open tab of deepfake pornography with several well-known female streamers. He apologized and said he would stop content creation in favor of helping to get these deepfakes taken down from the internet. Since then, Atrioc has streamed live twice on Twitch, each time giving 20-minute reports on the work he is doing with Maya Higa, Pokimane, and QTCinderella, among other streamers. He praised the improved efficacy of these DMCA takedowns of deepfake sites in his second update on March 24. He declared: “In total, even since we last talked, we’ve gotten 21,092 DMCA takedowns, and 13,090 things delisted from Google.”
A video of the event, which at the time received little attention, started spreading on social media and the R/LivestreamFail subreddit. Days later, an infamous apology broadcast resulted from this.
He said in his explanation that he would stop producing content and leave his co-founding position at OFFBRAND so that he could concentrate on helping to banish deepfake websites from the internet. He collaborated with QTCinderella and lawyer Ryan Morrison to pay for the removal of deepfakes from the internet. He declared: “I have spoken with Morrison and am working to cover the financial cost of the takedown as well as all legal fees for all women affected to use his services for removing their unwanted content from the web. Additionally, I am engaging more law firms to continue to remove this content from other areas of the internet such as Reddit.”
The controversy over deepfake p*rnography of female streamers centered on the streamer and former Twitch staffer. He unintentionally exposed a tab full of deepfakes of streamers during one of his broadcasts, many of whom he knew personally.
Atrioc went live on Twitch on March 15 to discuss some of the advancements they have made. On March 24, he posted another update, stating that it was getting easier and less expensive to have deepfakes removed from Google’s search results. According to him, 426 websites were successfully taken down in February at an expense of about $60,000. He called those outcomes a victory, but not a particularly potent one. With over 21,000 sites receiving DMCA notices and an additional 13,000 sites being delisted from Google so far in March, those figures have significantly increased. Additionally, he asserted that overall expenses had decreased.
Atrioc undoubtedly deserved the majority of the criticism he got, but it appears that he is trying really hard to make up for what he did, and the results seem to be making a real difference.
