Deepfake or dirty trick? Insiders allege some stars spread their own nude images

MANILA, Philippines — With more and more deepfake or digitally edited nude photos of celebrities surfacing recently, showbiz insiders told Philstar.com that sometimes, talent managers, talent agencies or the talents themselves were allegedly the ones who spread those manipulated photos to create buzz.

According to Philstar.com's sources, a talent manager and a celebrity publicist who both refused to be named to safeguard their reputation as representatives of local and international stars, sometimes, it is the celebrity who allegedly commissions the anonymous spreading of a lewd image or video in chat groups without letting his or her talent managers know, just to get his or her name out there or to allegedly score a bigger offer from projects — or from indecent proposals.

Philstar.com asked two publicists and talent managers from two known talent management agencies in the local showbiz industry to verify the claims.

The two publicists, who refused to be named, denied the claims and stressed that they will never do such things to their talents.

“There are ways to have a good publicity rather than that. Parang ang worse naman no'n. Parang never namang maiisip ng any talent management 'yung ganong publicity slant. I don’t think it’s right and degrading for the female artist especially na maging resort just to be talked about. 'Yon ang point of view ko as PR,” one of the publicists said.

“For the record, we will never do that,” the publicist added.

Meanwhile, the other publicist said that if the claims by the showbiz insiders were true, no talent management will admit it.

“Grabe! May ganun ba?!?!?!?! Ngayon ko lang narinig 'yan. But in our case, we've never done that. And we would NEVER resort to such means just to make an artist newsworthy,” the celebrity publicist told Philstar.com through an online interview. 

“Tsaka, think of it this way... Kung meron mang gumagawa or gumawa n'yan, sa tingin mo, aaminin ba nila? Hahahaha!” the publicist added.

The publicist, however, said that maybe it is the artists themselves who did such things just be relevant.

"Who knows? Maybe it's the artist mismo who does it intentionally,” the publicist alleged.

Recently, fake nude photos of Kapamilya actresses Sue Ramirez, Maris Racal and Barbie Imperial were circulated online. The stars condemned the manipulated photos.

Related: 'Nakakagigil': Barbie Imperial lashes out at culprit behind fake nude photo

Information technology (IT) expert told Philstar.com that creating fake nude photos nowadays is like a walk in the park as there are apps that have artificial intelligence to do it in an instant.

Reports estimated that last year alone, over 600,000 women across the globe were victimized by spreading their nude images online.

One app in particular, the Telegram private messaging channel, was discovered to have an artificial intelligence-powered bot that allows users to digitally remove the clothes in a woman's photo — in minutes and for free.

And this is not just in pictures. The Telegram app was also reportedly used to create porn videos that could realistically copy people's faces and bodies.

In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 prohibits the access, alteration and spreading of deepfake photos and videos online. Any person found guilty of any of the punishable acts will face imprisonment, a fine of at least P200,000 up to a maximum amount commensurate to the damage incurred or both.

RELATED: 'Deepfake': Stars who fell victim to edited nude photos, videos