Amsterdam, Dutch online abuse agency call for worldwide ban of AI nudify apps

The city of Amsterdam and Offlimits, the expert agency on online abuse, are advocating for a global ban on nudify apps. These AI tools turn ordinary photos into sexually explicit images without the consent of the person in the photo or the copyright holder.

According to the expert agency, these apps are increasingly being used for sextortion, cyberbullying, and child sex abuse. Offlimits and the city of Amsterdam are therefore calling on the Dutch government and the European Union to explicitly ban this technology and make it inaccessible online.

Research by Offlimits showed that almost 40 percent of young men between the ages of 18 and 25 have seen criminal or violent sexual images. 15.6 percent report having seen images of children being sexually abused, real or AI-generated. Research by Pointer among over 60 secondary schools also showed that bullying using AI-generated nude images is increasingly common. 24 percent of the surveyed schools have dealt with this, and 10 percent said it happened more than five times a year.

“Amsterdam is investing in digital resilience, but children cannot stand up against an online environment that facilitates this kind of abuse,” said Amsterdam Alderman Alexander Scholtes (ICT and Digital City). “It is unacceptable that we are making sexual harassment and abuse increasingly accessible through the ease of nudify tools. That is why Amsterdam is signing this manifesto: we must have the courage to prohibit anything that is legal but demonstrably causes harm.”

“Nudify tools are primarily used to digitally undress women and girls,” said Offlimits director Robert Hoving. “It’s scandalous that these are so easily accessible to young people. The risk has also changed with new technological developments: perpetrators no longer need to have ‘real’ images, but can easily generate them with AI. The consequences for victims are serious and have the same effects as abuse with real images.”

Although creating and distributing deepfake nude images can be punishable in the Netherlands, nudify websites and apps are still easily found online.