Tech News, San Francisco/ London,30 January 2026: In a major industry-wide sweep, tech giants Apple and Google have purged dozens of applications from their respective app stores following an explosive report revealing how these platforms were hosting and profiting from tools designed to create non-consensual sexual deepfakes.
The crackdown was triggered by a January 27, 2026, investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). The watchdog identified 102 “nudify” apps—55 on the Google Play Store and 47 on the Apple App Store—that used generative AI to digitally “undress” people from innocuous photos.
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Financial Impact: These apps had collectively amassed over 705 million downloads and generated an estimated $117 million in lifetime revenue.
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Profit Controversy: Because both platforms take a 15–30% commission on in-app purchases, critics argued that the tech giants were effectively profiting from image-based sexual abuse.
The Global Regulatory Hammer
The purge coincides with a tightening legal net worldwide. Governments are shifting focus from punishing individual users to targeting the software providers at the source.
| Region | Legislative Action (Jan 2026) |
| United Kingdom | The Crime and Policing Bill has been updated to criminalize the supply of nudification tools. Providing such software now carries severe criminal penalties. |
| United States | Under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed into law in 2025, platforms face heavy FTC fines if they do not remove reported non-consensual deepfakes within 48 hours. |
| European Union | The EU AI Act (Article 50) now mandates strict “machine-readable” watermarking for all AI-generated content to ensure detectability and accountability. |
