San Francisco just put both Apple and Google on notice. The city’s attorney sent formal cease-and-desist letters to both companies this month, and the message was blunt: Apple and Google Ordered to Purge Nudify Apps from their respective stores, or face real legal consequences. These are the so-called “nudify” or “undress” apps, tools that use AI to digitally strip clothing off photos of real people without their consent, and according to the city, both tech giants have known about the problem for close to a year and haven’t done nearly enough about it. Also Read AI-Powered Travel Agency Fora Hits Unicorn Status, Raises 60M Dollars
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What Actually Happened
So here’s the breakdown. Chiu’s office sent letters targeting 13 apps total, eight sitting on Apple’s App Store, five on Google Play. They all market themselves loosely as “face-swapping” tools, which sounds harmless enough, but open one up and it becomes obvious pretty quick what they’re really built for: generating sexualized, nonconsensual images of real people. The letters gave both companies 28 days to respond or risk civil penalties under California law, which makes it illegal to knowingly facilitate or recklessly help create nonconsensual deepfake pornography. A newer law also lets victims sue third parties who enabled that kind of content directly.
This isn’t the first warning either. Back in January, and again in April, a group called the Tech Transparency Project sent its own reports and letters to both companies, flagging dozens of apps across both stores that were selling this kind of content and processing payments through Apple and Google’s own systems. That April report went further, accusing both companies of actively steering users toward these apps rather than just failing to catch them. So by the time this new legal action landed, Apple and Google Ordered to Purge Nudify Apps wasn’t really coming out of nowhere. It was more of a final warning after two rounds of earlier ones apparently went unheeded. Also Read How to Recover Deleted Photos on iphone and Android?
Why the City Is Taking This So Seriously
Chiu didn’t mince words about what’s driving this. He’s said publicly that both companies are profiting off apps that exploit women and girls through nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, and that the companies have a responsibility to be proactive rather than just reactive when it comes to preventing this kind of abuse. His office has also pointed out that both Apple and Google likely earned millions of dollars in fees just from processing payments for these apps, which is part of why the letters specifically call out the companies for “aiding and abetting” the spread of this material rather than just hosting it passively.
There’s some history here too. Chiu’s office previously took legal action against more than a dozen deepfake websites operating outside the app stores entirely, so this latest move against Apple and Google fits into a broader pattern of the city going after companies it sees as enabling this kind of content, wherever it happens to be hosted.
How Apple and Google Responded
Apple’s line is that they’ve already pulled three of the eight flagged apps and are working on shutting down the developer accounts behind them. They’re also apparently talking to four more developers who need to clean up policy violations, or get removed too. Apple maintains it never allowed nudify apps under its App Review Guidelines in the first place, and says it’s proactively rejected and pulled a bunch of these over time, including ones people flagged themselves.
Google says something similar. All five apps named in its part of the letter have already been suspended, and a company spokesperson noted they typically act on apps once they’re reported for breaking policy.
Sounds fine on paper. Except it’s basically the exact same answer both companies gave the last few times this came up, and clearly that hasn’t stopped new versions of these apps from showing up anyway. That gap between the policy on paper and what actually gets enforced is a big reason Apple and Google Ordered to Purge Nudify Apps became a legal matter instead of just another round of quiet app removals. Also Read How to Stop an AI Image Generator From Using Your Insta Photos
The Bigger Pattern Here
What makes this story land differently than a typical content moderation dispute is the scale and duration of the problem. Researchers have flagged apps like these repeatedly over the past couple years, and some have reportedly carried age ratings suggesting they were suitable for children, despite what they’re actually capable of generating. Both Apple and Google technically have developer policies banning pornography, harassment, and abusive content, so on paper these apps should never have made it into either store to begin with, let alone stayed there long enough to generate meaningful revenue.
That disconnect between written policy and what’s actually available for download is exactly what San Francisco’s legal letters are aimed at closing. This isn’t really about a handful of bad actors slipping through the cracks. It’s more of an argument that the review and enforcement systems at both companies have failed in the same way, over and over, for a long time now. Also Read How to Stop an AI Image Generator From Using Your Insta Photos
What Happens Next
Both companies now have 28 days to respond formally. If they don’t do enough, San Francisco says it’s ready to go after civil penalties under California’s deepfake laws. And given that Chiu’s office has already pursued similar action against other companies before, it doesn’t seem likely this ends with just another letter if Apple and Google fail to follow through this time.
For now, the apps named in the letters are reportedly being removed or already have been, but the bigger question is whether this actually changes how either company screens new apps going forward, or whether new nudify tools simply reappear under different names once the current controversy fades. Given how many times Apple and Google Ordered to Purge Nudify Apps has effectively already happened, quietly, before this legal action, it’s a fair question to ask whether anything meaningfully changes this time around.