X/Twitter has limited searches for “Taylor Swift” over the weekend due to a surge of explicit AI-generated images of the singer, sparking outrage from Swifties, SAG-AFTRA, and the Biden White House.
As of Sunday’s press time, attempting to search “Taylor Swift” on X results in an error message, prompting a reload due to intentional limitations imposed by X since Saturday.
“This is a temporary measure taken with caution as we prioritize safety regarding this matter,” stated X’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch, as reported by Variety.
Despite the restriction, combining “Taylor Swift” with other terms such as “Taylor Swift Chiefs” or the problematic “Taylor AI Swift” still retrieves relevant tweets in the search results.
SAG-AFTRA condemned the dissemination of “disturbing, harmful, and highly troubling” images that circulated on X earlier in the week, advocating for legislative action like Congressman Joe Morelle’s Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act to address this issue.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed alarm over the images during a Friday press briefing, urging social media platforms to reinforce content moderation policies and recommending congressional intervention to establish protective laws.
The timeline for restoring full search functionality for Taylor Swift on X remains uncertain.
