The San Francisco city attorney has formally demanded that the Apple Store and Google Play remove a group of AI-powered “nudify” apps, citing serious concerns over nonconsensual intimate imagery. City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to both companies this week, ordering them to pull 13 apps capable of generating deepfake nude images. The letters were first reported by Wired and mark the latest legal pressure on major app marketplaces to police harmful AI tools more aggressively.
What The Letters Demand From The Apple Store And Google
Chiu’s letters accuse Apple and Google of enabling the spread of nonconsensual intimate images by continuing to host these apps on the Apple Store and Google Play. The demand goes beyond simple removal, calling on both companies to sever ties with the developers behind the flagged apps. According to Chiu, the tech giants have profited from these apps through in-app purchases, which he argues makes their platforms complicit in ongoing harm.
A Pattern Of Legal Action Against Deepfake Platforms
This isn’t Chiu’s first move against AI-generated exploitative content. He previously filed a lawsuit against 16 websites that let users turn real photos of women and girls into fabricated pornographic images using artificial intelligence. That earlier case set the stage for this latest action, which specifically targets how nudify apps have managed to stay listed on the Apple Store despite policies banning sexual content.
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How Nudify Apps Slipped Through App Store Moderation
Earlier this year, a report from the Tech Transparency Project found that nudification apps were regularly bypassing moderation on both the Apple Store and Google Play. The report claimed some apps were even actively promoted within the stores, making them easier for users to discover. Investigators noted that many of these apps carried an “E for Everyone” rating, raising concerns that children could download them without restriction.
Finding these tools reportedly required nothing more than searching basic terms like “nudify” or “undress” directly in the Apple Store search bar. That accessibility stands in contrast to both companies’ stated policies, which explicitly prohibit sexual or pornographic content from appearing on their platforms.
Key points from the investigation include:
- Nudify apps were found actively listed on both the Apple Store and Google Play
- Several apps carried age ratings suggesting they were safe for all users
- Basic search terms were enough to surface the apps without additional filtering
- The apps operated despite existing content policies banning sexual material
Why This Matters Beyond The Apple Store
The controversy extends well past a single storefront. Deepfake technology has become a growing concern across the tech industry, with multiple companies facing scrutiny over how their platforms handle AI-generated exploitative content. Meta’s Oversight Board recently urged the company to strengthen protections for ordinary users targeted by sexualized deepfakes, noting that current safeguards tend to favor public figures over private citizens.
Elon Musk’s xAI has also faced several lawsuits over nonconsensual deepfake images generated by its Grok tool. These parallel cases suggest regulators and city officials are increasingly willing to hold tech companies accountable for how AI tools are distributed, not just how they’re built.
Company Responses So Far
A Google spokesperson told Wired that the company had already removed hundreds of apps containing nudification features, including five specifically flagged by Chiu’s office. Google reiterated that its policies prohibit sexual content and stated it takes swift action whenever a violation is confirmed through user reports or internal review.
Apple, meanwhile, did not provide a comment before the story was published. The lack of response leaves open questions about what specific steps, if any, the Apple Store will take to address the apps named in Chiu’s letter.
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Pressure Builds On App Store Content Policies
City officials are increasingly treating app marketplace oversight as a public safety issue rather than a private business matter. Chiu’s letters signal that regulators expect the Apple Store and Google Play to actively enforce their own content rules rather than waiting for outside complaints to trigger removal. With deepfake tools becoming easier to build and distribute, this case could push both companies toward stricter automated screening before apps ever reach public listings.
What Users Can Do Right Now
Anyone who spots a suspicious app on the Apple Store or Google Play can report it directly through each platform’s built-in flagging tools, which remain the fastest way to trigger a manual review. Parents monitoring app downloads on shared or family devices may also want to check age ratings closely, since some nudify apps have carried ratings suggesting they were safe for younger users.
