YouTube Sent 1.8 Million People to 'Nudify' Sites in Four Months
A new report finds mainstream platforms, not obscure corners of the internet, are the main highways driving traffic to tools that strip people's clothes off without their consent.
Key points
- Social media platforms drove more than 5.7 million visits to nudify sites between December 2025 and March 2026, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
- YouTube alone was responsible for 1.82 million of those visits, over 30 percent of all referral traffic measured.
- X ranked second, sending more than 1.3 million visits to the same sites during the same period.
- Some nudify tools charge as little as $1 per image, and the sector may collectively earn as much as $36 million in annual revenue.
- Minnesota became the first US state to ban nudification apps specifically, in May 2026.
The tools are called nudify apps, software that uses artificial intelligence to generate fake naked images of real people without their knowledge or agreement. They are cheap, increasingly easy to find, and, according to a new report, mainstream social media is actively pointing people toward them.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research group that tracks disinformation and online harms, published its findings this week. Researchers tracked the top ten nudify apps and websites and measured where their visitors came from. The answer was not the murky, loosely moderated corners of the internet that most people would expect.
It was YouTube.
The platform sent 1.82 million visits to nudify sites across four months. Users searching phrases like "undress app" or "nudify app" found videos reviewing those tools, promoting specific platforms, and sharing discount codes for free credits. YouTube prohibits sexually explicit content and, separately, bans links to sexually explicit websites. The ISD report says both rules appear to have been ignored at scale.
A YouTube spokesperson told Wired that the platform's policies cover "altered or synthetic content that realistically simulates nudity" and that those policies extend to external links. The spokesperson said the rules prohibiting unwanted sexualization are strict. The report suggests enforcement has not matched the policy on paper.
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, ranked second with more than 1.3 million referral visits. X drew separate criticism in January 2026 when users found that Grok, the platform's built-in AI chatbot, would generate nude or sexually suggestive images of real women, including some minors, without consent. The company later restricted Grok access to paying subscribers.
What does this mean for ordinary people?
If your photo is publicly visible online, these tools can be used against you. The ISD researchers found that common targets include current and former partners, and, disturbingly, family members such as sisters and cousins. Motivations are not always sexual. Researchers found many requests were aimed at damaging people's careers and reputations.
US federal law now requires social media platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate images within 48 hours of a takedown request. That law came fully into force in May 2026. If you or someone you know is targeted, submitting a formal takedown request to the platform is the first practical step.
Legislation is moving, but the apps are spreading faster. Deepfake cases have been reported in more than 90 schools globally. The ISD is calling for coordinated action: stronger platform enforcement, and digital literacy education that reaches students before they encounter these tools.
