The trend is likely to continue as the software required to do the videos is freely shared. It is called FakeApp and can be downloaded via an official torrent file.
The legal side of it is basically unclear. Unlike revenge porn, the nude content is not authentic and without a privacy violation, it can’t be fought the way revenge porn got tackled. Wired magazine made it absolutely clear: »You can’t sue someone for exposing the intimate details of your life when it’s not your life they’re exposing.«
The only legal way to stop deepfake porn seems to be through suing on grounds of copyright violations. The creators of the underlying porn clip could sue for copyright infringement. In some states and countries, people whose face was inserted into a porn video could sue on grounds of violations of the person’s »right of publicity« concerning »name, image and likeness«. These laws differ though from country to country.
These videos are most certainly illegal. And mainstream porn sites might find ways to ban them. But the Electronic Frontier Foundation f. ex. seems skeptical about stopping the deepfake results from spreading.
Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University put it this way: »It’s almost impossible to erase a video once it’s been published to the internet. If you’re looking for the magic wand that can erase that video permanently, it probably doesn’t exist.«