X and YouTube are allegedly pushing millions of users indirectly towards websites that offer AI-powered "nudify" tools. A new research from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has shed light on an interesting issue, the fact that such platforms are actually pushing many users towards apps or services that create non-consensual explicit images. The findings are now raising various concerns about how these major social media apps are aiding users in discovering deepfake creation tools, despite the fact that these apps or websites are banned and there are strict policies that restrict their circulation.
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The study done by ISD took into account the 10 most utilised websites and apps that create non-consensual intimate images or deepfakes and analysed or traced the pathways of how users were actually getting on these apps. Shockingly, social media apps took the forefront here leading almost more than 5.7 million visits to such explicit apps between the time period of December 2025 and March 2026. In this, YouTube accounted for more than 30 per cent, or 1.82 million redirects to such apps or websites, and X took the second spot in this list, and was responsible for more than 1.3 million such visits.
The report suggests that users who had searched for terms like "undress app" and "nudify app" were prompted with videos that reviewed and pushed these tools forward. Some videos also included links or promo codes to such apps offering free services that made using these apps much easier.
Violation of Platform Policies
These findings, the research suggests, are in "direct conflict" with social media apps like YouTube's own policy that restricts the circulation of such intimate or explicit material. It is being argued that the same logic must apply to apps and websites that are promoting non-consensual deepfakes. However, the efforts to curb the circulation of such websites seem to be ineffective, as such apps and nudify tools are still available in abundance on these platforms.
Melanie Smith, ISD UK's Senior Director of Policy and Research for Information Operations, told Wired, "It wasn't just that YouTube was a passive source. In a lot of these cases, it was facilitating the use of these tools as well," Melanie Smith also expressed that YouTube's policies restrict such links that advertise sexually explicit websites, and this should, in turn, also include these nudify apps as well, that create sexual or explicit non-consensual content/images. Although these rules don't seem to be in full effect as of now.
However, in another statement to Wired, YouTube's spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle said that the company has strict policies prohibiting content that includes unwanted sexualisation, such as non-consensually shared intimate imagery". He further added that its strict policies also apply to all the content that is displayed on YouTube and external links as well, and it also brings under its purview "altered or synthetic content that realistically simulates nudity".
The ISD report also found that these AI tools have become both cheap and easy to access. In some cases, users can generate an explicit deepfake image for as little as $1. Researchers said current and former girlfriends are among the most common targets, although some users have also created fake explicit images of relatives, including sisters and cousins.
According to Smith, the motivation behind using these tools is often not sexual. She said many users are trying to get people fired from their jobs and damage their personal and professional lives in "nefarious ways". Smith added that deepfake technology is increasingly being used for harassment, intimidation and reputational damage, rather than simply to create explicit images.