Dirty business

How eBay sellers make money with fake photos

Whether Taylor Swift (left) or Gal Gadot: there are many celebrity deepfake victims on eBay.(Bild: stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

Whether by means of artificial intelligence or in the classic manner of Princess Kate using Photoshop and the like, manipulating images is now easier than ever. The victims include celebrities such as Margot Robbie, Taylor Swift and Gal Gadot, countless fake photos of whom are circulating online - not only on the relevant sites, but also on eBay, where explicit photos of the stars are actively traded.

Nowadays, it takes just seconds to mount someone's face on another person's body or to undress them at the touch of a button and, unlike in the past, no longer requires any knowledge of image editing. With advances in the field of artificial intelligence, this has now developed into a veritable industry.

There are countless providers of so-called face-swap or nudify applications in the app stores and on the internet, which are often misused, contrary to their guidelines, to expose women - be it an ex, a secret flame or an unattainable pop or Hollywood star - and put them in sexually explicit images.

People can be undressed for "entertainment purposes" with just a few clicks.(Bild: Screenshot krone.at)

Such images are diligently shared and exchanged on special AI porn sites and in relevant forums, but there is also a lively trade in fake images in other places where you might not expect it at first: eBay.