San Francisco City Attorney Orders Apple and Google to Remove AI Nudify Apps
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to Apple and Google in July 2026 over 13 AI “nudify” face-swap apps, citing California law against deepfake pornography and nonconsensual nude images. Google says it removed five Android apps flagged by his office plus “hundreds” of similar apps.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to Apple and Google in July 2026, demanding the removal of 13 AI-powered “nudify” apps from their app stores and ordering the companies to stop profiting from the technology.
The legal notices, sent on Thursday and seen by WIRED, target face-swapping apps that allow users to generate AI-created nonconsensual nude images. Chiu’s office says the companies should stop “aiding and abetting” the sale of explicit deepfake images and “sever” business relationships with the app developers behind them.
“Generating non-consensual intimate images is illegal, harmful, and completely unacceptable,” Chiu told WIRED. His office previously took legal action against 16 deepfake websites and says Apple and Google have likely “made millions of dollars in fees” from the apps, which use in-app payments that the tech companies take a cut of. California law prohibits supporting services that create deepfake pornography, the letters state.
Google confirmed it had already removed the five Android apps flagged by Chiu’s office, along with “hundreds” of other apps with nudifying features. “Google Play does not allow apps that contain sexual content, and we continually take proactive steps to detect and remove apps with harmful content,” Google spokesperson Dan Jackson said in a statement. Apple did not provide comment ahead of publication.
Both Apple and Google have developer policies prohibiting pornography, abuse, and harassment, and have previously removed nudify and deepfake apps following reports from researchers and journalists. Researchers have also found some such apps rated as suitable for children.
The action comes amid a broader surge in AI-generated nonconsensual imagery. Often requiring only a single reference photo, these tools have become faster and more realistic as generative AI has improved. Previous reporting by WIRED and Indicator Media found deepfake sexual abuse images of minors had been created in at least 90 schools.