The internet’s most disturbing corner isn’t hiding in the shadows of 4chan anymore. According to a new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an anti-extremism and anti-disinformation organization, some of the biggest referrers to so-called “nudify” sites — tools that digitally undress real people without their consent — are the mainstream platforms most of us use every day.
The study, published Monday, examined the top 10 apps and websites used to generate nonconsensual explicit deepfakes, alongside the routes people take to find them. The numbers are grim: social networks drove more than 5.7 million visits to nudify sites between December 2025 and March 2026.
Leading the pack was YouTube, responsible for 1.82 million visits — over 30 percent of all referrals. Searches for terms like “undress app” or “nudify app” surfaced videos reviewing and promoting specific tools, and even links to promo codes offering free credits. X came in second, funneling over 1.3 million visits.
What makes the YouTube figure so awkward is that it sits, as the report puts it, in “direct conflict” with the platform’s own rules. YouTube prohibits sexually explicit content, and its policies extend to posting links to or advertising for adult websites. In theory, that should cover nonconsensual imagery. In practice, ISD found the content “easily discoverable and accessible,” effectively turning the platform into a gateway.
“It wasn’t just that YouTube was a passive source” of traffic, Melanie Smith, ISD’s senior director of research and policy, told WIRED. “In a lot of these cases, it was facilitating the use of these tools as well.” A YouTube spokesperson responded that the company maintains “strict policies prohibiting content that includes unwanted sexualization,” covering both on-platform content and external links, including “altered or synthetic content that realistically simulates nudity.”
The economics are as ugly as the ethics. Some tools let users generate an explicit image for as little as $1 an image, yet a recent WIRED report estimated the sector collectively pulls in as much as $36 million per year. Common targets, the study found, include current and ex-partners — and, disturbingly, relatives such as sisters and cousins. The motivations aren’t always sexual, either. Many requests, Smith noted, aimed to get people fired or otherwise ruin their livelihoods.
X has its own recent history here. In January 2026, the platform faced heavy criticism after users leaned on its Grok chatbot to generate nude or suggestive images of women without consent, including minors, prompting the company to restrict Grok access to paid users.
Legislation is catching up, if slowly. Nonconsensual intimate imagery is illegal in the US, and the federal Take It Down Act — in full effect since May — requires platforms to remove flagged images within 48 hours. In May 2026, Minnesota became the first state to ban nudification apps outright. Even so, with reported deepfake cases now spanning more than 90 schools worldwide, the tools are only getting cheaper, faster, and easier to reach.
