'I was deepfaked by my best friend' | BBC News

“Jodie” is a victim of being deepfaked.
In the spring of 2021, Jodie - not her real name - was sent a link to a porn website from an anonymous email account.
Clicking through, she found explicit images and a video of what appeared to be her having sex with various men. Jodie's face had been digitally added onto another woman's body - known as a "deepfake". 
Through her own investigation work, she discovered the person behind it was one of her best friends.
Here she tells her story for the very first time.
If you’ve been a victim of harassment, stalking or revenge porn, details of organisations offering information and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Read more on the BBC News website: bbc.in/3vDyFwq
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For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news
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[@Jordan-rb28]

You can NEVER trust an apology from somebody like this. They get off on others' pain and suffering. He will absolutely never be remorseful.

[@Dorcas8401]

He is a complete psychopath...

[@curiositycloset2359]

She is the psycho. She thought she could keep a pet of a person. She trained him badly.

[@bro5846]

more just a massive pervert, there is a difference

[@whitepouch0904]

@@curiositycloset2359 ha? Are you Alex’s relative? 😂

[@curiositycloset2359]

@@whitepouch0904 lol love is a mutilating experience. Im quite lucky. This guy wasn't.

[@curiositycloset2359]

@@whitepouch0904 I fear some people will never feel love. And some people even look down on it. Yet still, some people didn't deserve it.

[@yaslynsahota]

Terribly disgusting & scary at the same time. Such a shame. There needs to be harsher laws when it comes to social media

[@catcat9582]

We can petition

[@yaslynsahota]

@@catcat9582 definitely

[@DrJams]

Why can't someone make joke and satire of people?

[@pooroldnostradamus]

It's not a social media issue, but rather the effect of novel technology. We just have to transition as a society into a world where we collectively dismiss photographic evidence. If we do not trust any such images and dismiss them as almost guaranteed fakes, the issue of being exposed like this is diminished. It's still unpleasant, but no longer a blackmail/psychological warfare tool.

[@TheFrenchClipper]

Daily reminder to not put any pics of your kids on social media

[@heti8140]

So disgusting there should be serious consequences for anyone doing this. This is not acceptable

[@trl2151]

5 months in prison is pretty serious for a digital crime of this nature. Perhaps the restitution should be higher though

[@julianbird3485]

Suspended sentence. No time served. @@trl2151

[@Joppi1992]

@@trl2151 Imprisonment durations depends on the country and it can vary wildly what definitions each country can have for the same kind of crime. But on a macro scale, countries tend to be split into one of two variations: The famous one being the US model, where imprisonment durations can be really long, and the consequence is that it led to gross overpopulation in prisons. While the other model, which is more common in social democracies, is shorter imprisonment durations on average, but a lot more focus on rehabilitation. The thing about the second model, is that it has a higher success rate for normal reintegration with society for non-violent offenses, and helps prevent overpopulation in prisons. But it also has a higher failure rate in rehabilitating violent criminals as well as failing to rehabilitate those belonging to organized crime like for example young people at the bottom of the totem pole that does the peddling of "certain things". Although there are countries in the world where there are punishments worse than your worst nightmare that happens not only to violent and non-violent criminals alike, but also to political prisoners. But that kind of topic tends to get censored, so there's not much that can be said about that. Because "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" is the mantra of first world countries.

[@supernotnatural]

This is so simple thing internet these days. People have no idea what you can do with AI. Those deepfakes are actually done with hard work. You gotta give up for those people .These days you dont need even do the hard work due to AI. Forget the pictures, just having sample of your audio is enough to make wild things. Just like people using Joe Rogan for their product adds etc. And the guy that get caught wouldn't get caught if he did it with open network. And most never will. Solution: Islam. I'mnot joking. Cover your faces and everything. Because you are not getting ahead of this. No one can. I remember Sherlock episode when the guy tells Sherlock "I don't have to prove it, I just have to print it". Same logic here. No one needs to prove you are actually having sex etc. in those acts. They just have to print it.

[@lifesbutastumble]

@@trl2151It was suspended for 2 years. He probably won't even see inside a prison

[@jaykay5688]

The law here is sickening!!! £100 compensation???!!!! Is this how much anyone’s soul values!!!!!! 😡😡😡😡

[@kv4648]

Insult is that it's that high. What are you gonna do next? Spy on every person's internet activity?

[@LudiCrust.]

Wow that is an extreme betrayal. Whats sad is she’ll never get over it psychologically 100% & it’ll affect all of her relationships with people the rest of her life. All because a bored lonely jerk did that.

[@NoWindNoSunNoPower]

Hoping that she has friends at the local MMA joint.

[@FlecheNoire07]

That's why "friends" don't exist. They are just hypocrits who take advantages of you before letting you down

[@zeroheroes4081]

I saw a documentary of a similar case in my country, except the victim was a guy and the girl was the stalker. She was also a best friend of his that he relied on and never considered until they found out. He wasn't harassed with deep fakes though, it was more death threats and so on. Living in fear for years and then experience such betrayal, the emotional damage must be everlasting...

[@Lazerbadger2]

I definitely agree. It’s going to affect her probably for a while. But I would remember she can definitely get over this. People do bad things to others all the time, and people overcome those bad things all the time. :)

[@resir9807]

Ok no need to be so extreme about it, therapy has helped with worse problems

[@NoWindNoSunNoPower]

Another fine example of British justice. An appallingly light sentence.

[@limitlessLtd]

Most nations wouldnt even punish this lol

[@dg8620]

​@@limitlessLtd My thoughts exactly. I am incredibly impressed the UK judicial system acted in this. I forecast more than 50% of all porn will be a mix of AI or deep fakes within the next decade.

[@hawkingdawking4572]

It's a plea deal most likely.

[@techgamesyt8046]

SORRY is a word thats easy to say. He dont know why he do it but in reality he lusted over her

[@harryroper7821]

A Woolf in sheep's clothing

[@stevie-ray2020]

So true!

[@whitepouch0904]

Maybe that’s why his clan was named with that

[@bloodlove93]

trust nobody, question everything. enjoy modern technology with caution.

[@anirudhkashikar2300]

Lies. Alex regrets only getting caught.

[@ecknareal]

His sentence wasn't long or impactful enough, doing this to one person? doing this to 15.. this guys needs to some serious time AWAY from society to consider the impacts hes had on others.

[@DrJams]

Just a matter of time before you can just upload a image of someone and it makes a video. Nothing can be done.

[@ecknareal]

@@DrJams Things can we done, but it will start to infringe on the rights of everyone else to do so. For instance, Microsoft make you submit your details before logging on to the internet. Or like a Chinese government type thing where they just monitor you all the time.

[@andresperrle7984]

Hold on: So If I would ruin other peoples life, I get therapy. If smb else recks my life, I get 100 dollars.

[@zainzoala1083]

😮 Sad , Yes but Only for the privileged race not for everyone. Alex seems to be lucky from the privileged accepted race . So be careful 😂😂😂

[@hightunnel2723]

lol MAYBE 100 dollars

[@jkfdkjjd]

"Ruin peoples life" loooool yeah right

[@kv4648]

This exaggeration makes this more hilarious than anything else

[@BierMan-je3od]

Stuff like this leaves trust issues for life. It's not a joke. There should be harsher punishments and proper accountability when it comes to social media. Sorry to this happened to her... i hope she wont let it change who she is and folks hold such sad jerks accountable.

[@oldmedstudent1750]

harsher punishments like what? 50 years? I bet you're one of the leftists that wants black people let out of jail without bail after robbery but wants all men locked up every time they look twice at a woman.

[@kv4648]

Relationship stuff like trust issues don't need to be handled through legal pathways. Just wasting time on more serious cases at this point

[@Kiraiko44]

What's wrong with people?

[@mindblown42069]

Obsession is a dangerous thing.

[@nuutiii]

2:32 Someone that loves you?? Now why would someone who loves you go submit your photos to pages like that without your consent???

[@SoundsOfTheWild3]

they mean like a stalker

[@nuutiii]

@@SoundsOfTheWild3 oh rigghttt

[@minirock000]

Because love can be a horrible emotion, it is after all a main ingredient in jealousy.

[@Jordan-rb28]

That is the definition of a psychopath. A sadomasochist at the bare minimum.

[@Darien135]

Social media is a virtual reality that is not a reality, if you are not there you don't exist. Take care of your real reality and life will be better.

[@qedd722]

slaves in UK doesn't understand that

[@BierMan-je3od]

Unfortunately, there are several professions almost requiring social media presence. Esepecially when u wanna put food on the table in this day and age. Seems like victim blaming to me. We still live in a society at the end of the day. Including online. So it's best to hold such folks accountable cuz it has real life consequences. Just like human trade that takes place online and other forms of crime has consequences. Why should these sexual predators get away when other types of crime dont go unpunished either? Sorts and outs these psychos out of society as well. I would love to know why we should blame it on the victim instead of holding that waste of O2 that did this to her accountable?

[@yesimemoin0935]

The culprit was a close friend who could have taken photos of her himself or gotten them from a mutual friend. The explicit photos were computer generated. It's not only up to you if you "exist" on social media and the consequences follow you to real life.

[@incisivecommenter5974]

Why do the britiah side with the offenders? That is such a light sentence.

[@catcat9582]

Roots of the country are foul. They do not care for their citizens. Never have.

[@AlistairStevenson]

Victim blaming narcs.

[@pandemicoftheunvaccinated5367]

Have to feel for her ex-the poor guy coped emotional abuse and was innocent.

[@Alaryicjude]

This has only just begun... 😔

[@AnABSOLUTEBarbarian]

I’m actually shadow banned on Instagram because my images have been associated with accounts used for catfishing. Ironically the only time I heard of my images being used was then. I don’t take photographs too often anymore

[@NoWindNoSunNoPower]

Let’s hop that Alex’s future is knackered.

[@lorddavidlawrence]

Will that make him more likely or less likely to do a similar or worse thing to a woman in the future?

[@danl.2626]

He needs to go to prison for longer

[@dkgKim]

Of course it was the male best friend.

[@roberttalada5196]

He looks exactly the type.

[@Kitsaplorax]

Isn't there a victims compensation and support law in the UK?

[@tominmtnvw]

Makes you wonder who your friends are. Be careful what you share because it may not be something you want to be tossed around in public. And that person, is not your friend. Never was.

[@beatricet5682]

Brava for speaking out. This is an important message for anyone sharing photos publicly or privately. Once shared, they can't be unshared. Also, there needs to be much more severe consequences for those who impersonate others or maliciously share images of other people. Laws need to be significantly improved. And there needs to be greater support for victims.

[@atrociousliar3314]

What is the point of suspended sentences? A suspended sentence is no sentence.

[@jkfdkjjd]

It means that should they offend during the sentence then they can be put into prison to fulfill that sentence without a fuss. The point is so that they can focus on rehabilitation, as in not do that sort of thing again. It's not in the scheme of things very serious just some guy getting it wrong. Get over it, way worse things out there.

[@oyuyuy]

Read up.

[@techtinkerin]

You have no idea what you're talking about.

[@LuzDoSol-yr5bv]

He manages to be on Mastermind and yet not mastering his own behaviour. That's history is crazy!

[@topspduk]

Betrayed by a best friend. Shocking, absolutely shocking. Woolf ruined his own life too. How on earth those close to him ever trust him? I hope he's never allowed to change his name so that people who meets him can know who he really is.

[@ITSAGIRRAFE1]

Of course it’s the guy friend

[@oldmedstudent1750]

now you know why men don't like their girlfriends having guy friends.

[@miminotbovered2857]

Can she sue him for defamation?

[@Bokoyo]

£100 to the victims, this country is a joke!!!

[@phantomapprentice6749]

A good lawyer would have probably gotten him out of it completely : loose circumstantial evidence and coerced police confession. The smoking gun should have been his PC but somehow they couldn't prove that pattern? Also I wouldn't rule out the ex-boyfriend as a suspect so quickly , he could have gotten hold of the photos via another account.

[@user-uv8hp4jh7k]

It should be £0.

[@CourageUnderFire87]

He is psychopath

[@princepsmickey934]

Wow, that’s horrible

[@joannebottcher9779]

£100!!! What! Very selfish and cruel. 5 months suspended. Pathetic. This is devastating to these young ladies.

[@lfeb]

Good for her standing up for herself! What a terrible friend

[@rishabhx]

5:33 omg she's so naïve

[@lfeb]

We need laws for this

[@TapTrapTap]

« Now I just don’t care » I’ve heard that one before. Great story.

[@lorddavidlawrence]

Always make sure that a heterosexual friend of the opposite sex doesn't want more than just a friendship with you.

[@hinaz85]

£100 and few months????? What a joke of the system

[@ArshadMohammedNeedhelp]

I'm facing something very similar to this I been reporting to police nothing happened I've lost all of savings been scammed by childhood friend finally ended up with homeless with no support no guidance When you're information is being used against you I suffered a lot 😢😢 still suffering in 🤐

[@snails6997]

The guy look already set for life with those achievements. Now its all tainted. Damn... What were he thinking? This kind of impaired logic does shows mental sickness.

[@danny-b75]

What a jerk. I really hope some good hacker watchs this! The system is bias if his postcode was some strategically run down area hed of got a lot more. Wow what a jerk. Hope you heal.

[@Emtrax.]

That moment of realisation that it was him must have been crazy. Its like a huge twist in a thriller.

[@clankb2o5]

Sickening...

[@ellybell8356]

I never posted any private pics on fb...only landscapes...and in 2019 I did delete my account completely. Never used any (un) social media again. I still like to talk to ppl in person...and yes I write letters and cards again.

[@esraeloh8681]

What a horrific creep, to wonder just how deep his rabbit hole goes, what the hell else was he involved in. Seriously, 5 months, a hundred pathetic quid. And some kind of class he can jsut fake his way through. And that fake ass apology, signed, A Lawyer.... For that heinous, predatory indescribable crime. This is utterly insane, modern hamns, we've really fkd it haven't we. He basiaclly got off scott free. Can you imagine what you would do if she was Your daughter, & you found this out, the sheer scale of how close he was to her, he knew every detail of what it was doing to her. Is there any greater predatory behavior. This world is utterly insane, 100 punds, basically for the psychological rape of this poor girls life for 4, YEARS......... This guys shouldn't be aloud to be around other people for at least a decade

[@stevie-ray2020]

Exactly!

[@giosasso]

There is no justice in this world. Everyone has to take matters into their own hands and get the justice they deserve.

[@Nick-zp3ub]

What a creep. Why would he do that to someone he saw as a friend?

[@keelanmurphy9941]

I mean, obviously he didn't actually see her as a friend, he saw her as an object.

[@phantomapprentice6749]

Its a very loose story. Its enough that her Ex has mutual friends and gets hold of their cell for even a moment to pull that photo.

[@bilbofaggin5]

alex woolf isn't a composer; he's a predator

[@magnoliaflower3310]

I thought there would be counseling for the victims.

[@quinnw6795]

How are authorities around the world dealing with this? What are the steps the police/ government doing to prevent this?

[@techtinkerin]

Best friend, now thats naive on a colossal scale.

[@QUARK00]

Socialise anonymously without photos.

[@brownmoney27]

Alex looks the type, I'd have guessed it was him immediately. Look at his face.

[@chelseafisher6881]

Yes, something toxic about the combination of insecurity from being overweight, plus the entitlement from being so good at something - it seemed really unsurprising to me it was Alex, I’ve met men like that and I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.

[@user-iq4bh7xl4x]

Composer of deep fakes. Sick.

[@rickysmom809]

Wow and he seemed like such an normal guy 😮😮

[@BlackEagle352]

So he was a Woolf in sheep clothing?

[@aktharhabib2694]

That why I don’t have any social media and won’t allow my child to ever have any

[@user-alabad]

Why am I in this life? I was out of it and I will get out of it again🤔

[@CatfishGumbo]

Says the Hamas supporter.

[@stepmeup2]

And with AI.

[@youngj1490]

In a couple of years you can just ask your AI software or whatever peripheral that your using (apple/Google/VR) to insert any face/foto or from a video file into your video of choice. This new form of porn and obsession is only the beginning to virtual fantasies for men and women in the porn industry.

[@kan9431]

😱 so sad😢

[@BornIIfly]

Goto America, get yourself a lawyer and sue for defamation. Don’t give up, fight for justice and get rewarded for it. Good luck 🍀

[@DanteLovesPizza]

I don't support any of what he did, but I do want to know, how is "messages that were grossly offensive" defined in the law? Grossly offensive is subjective as far as I'm concerned, and if we start policing that, it's a slippery slope to Oceania led by Big Brother.

[@logicalmusicman5081]

Shocked. Absolutely shocked that putting a chronology of photos online for anyone to see at anytime could be used nefariously. Stop posting your life online and don't be a victim. Shame so many people have to learn this the hard way and have life altering events that are completely preventable with a little more web-smarts. I'm not blaming the victims. Everyone should learn from this and stop such reckless sharing.

[@mugurelbudara4028]

best friends, ha? or, better, don't trust people with everything...and ease off social media, in this case it was only one person doing this. I think photos can be copied by so many people at some point that you wouldn't keep track of that and manipulated even more so nowadays with AI...

[@zak__21]

Wait... the criminal was given therapy but the victims were not? Wow, sensational justice system

[@hughjass69702]

You got deep what?

[@sohu86x]

Should have just started a new account and been more careful who she added.

[@LilYaz001]

Yeah that’s the lesson here (!)

[@jazztheglass6139]

Knew it was Alex " He was my best friend " women were more on the ball in the past

[@user-db1vp2st5y]

Full responsibility of FB and Google..there have to pay huge money to understanding what happened to the lady's and man's too. Shameful..

[@keithss67]

People are such nutters

[@LouieLouLoo]

That psycho gets therapy but the victim does not? WTF!?

[@herlandercarvalho]

Sadly, none of this is shocking, and the internet has became the perfect ground on which socio and psychopaths can operate with little to no repercussion. I once encountered a similar situation, of a guy that had children under his care, and was sharing some of the children photos on a sexually themed Discord server, where he exchanged with others, photos of sexualized children. Discord did little to nothing about it, and only because I started to go down the rabbit hole, I managed to get the guy's FB profile, and to warn the mother of one of the children about it, and exposed the situation to the FBI aswell. This is what the Internet has become... sadly...

[@jkfdkjjd]

The thing is about someone posting a bunch of deepfakes of you. No one's going to judge you for being deepfaked. Is someone REALLY going to blame you for you being doxxed etc.? I think most people will realize whats going on and realize its messed up.

[@gravel7614]

If they barely know you. Then they probably won't guess its fake. Plus some jobs will scour your online presence. Depending on the job porn of yourself online you eliminate you from being considered

[@olufagosebambulagose]

£100 in compensation XD That one is a bit ridiculous.

[@redsilver69]

I'm going through this right now. What they are doing now is one girl can be 50 different porn stars and have 100 only 😢 one girl. I found out it was my daughter 😢and she was under age they put another older girls face on her, and it's still up today. I am going to work on a case against them soon it took me a year to figure it out. So you can take advantage of this as well and she's all tictok to they can make her black our Hispanic, and anything she wants, including over wait, our skinny but she didn't change her voice so I picked up on it fast 90 percent of porn is deep fake trust me. Well, we will see what happens. Wish me luck.😢

[@xizilionyizzexeliqer3897]

English men! SURPRISE SURPRISE! 😕

[@AmyAmy-er8bp]

Who was driving by the way. Everyone who took so and so medication....they will never take public transportation. The rest at least you can work with your car...will get you employed...

[@shinyshinythings]

Devastating. But can I just say that the animated storytelling style used in this video is very distracting and kind of unnecessary? I mean, I’m glad someone had fun making all those animated words fly across the screen and turn red and whatnot, but it added zero to the story.

[@AmyAmy-er8bp]

Instead they checked the air quality of the cities by they we mean people, then suburbs, and the difference was obvious. I am sure water belongs to one of these categories...

[@NoWindNoSunNoPower]

Comments in support of the victim being deleted. That speaks volumes about YT. .

[@HellHunter00]

KZbin's comment filtering algorithm is pretty broken. I take care not to use any profanity or language that can be construed as harmful but a number of my comments and replies to comments also only appear to me. Opened the videos on private browsing and mine didn't appear. I cannot understand what triggers it. It needs fixing much like the anachronistic legal systems of many, if not most, countries.

[@michaelcriger6359]

@@HellHunter00I've noticed most of my comments do not get posted. Sometimes I'm like, "oh, I guess that word set it off." Most of the time, I'm just baffled!

[@quwipyui6519]

@@michaelcriger6359because this is the censorship in UK you are just born right now? UK is not a longer democratic country

[@stevie-ray2020]

Unfortunately, it's far too easy for Alex Woolf or one of his mates to report a comment as being inappropriate or abusive!

[@Joppi1992]

@@HellHunter00 It's called 'shadow ban' when it's only visible to you. While YT got their own automated tool to moderate certain things across the entire platform, which includes those 'shadow bans', it's not as extreme as people think. A lot of the moderation is done by the channels themselves. A YT channel can use filters to block keywords which they can make their own lists for, and there's also the ability to use advanced filters to hold comments for review by the channel before either being shown or removed depending on the channel's decision, and there are channels with several moderators as well that can review and either pass to show or remove comments that have been held for review. A channel can also block a user from posting comments entirely on all the channel's videos. It's a system that overall ends up favoring mindless engagement over meaningful engagement, across the platform on average.

[@UndeadFleshgod]

"People are taking their photos without consent and doing whatever they want to them" Then don't post pictures publicly? If I publish my address online, I shouldn't be surprised if some creep knocks at my door.

[@paulgibbons2320]

Sociopathia.

[@HarHah]

Try Rumpelstiltskin

[@MrChaseBlue]

Some of the comments here are disgusting. Let’s blame the victim here!

[@jenna637]

It's always women's fault.

[@user-uv8hp4jh7k]

What victim? It’s just pictures.

[@prp3231]

You mean that fake videos can be made about people? If for example a public figure has not been seen since last Xmas can have a fake video made in order to show the sheep that all is well? Nah, not buying it

[@dimamatat5548]

If I were her, I would take revenge for such a foul betrayal.

[@anniehills3580]

EACH OF HIS VICTIMS????? HOW MANY?

[@jhaduvala]

Should have been one hundred THOUSAND pounds.

[@RandomNooby]

Free advertising, use some of the potential cash to bring the perp to justice,...

[@user-ke8mc2gr4k]

Lord

[@CL4MP]

Dude, if you deepfake your friends, don't be stupid and upload it 🤦‍♂

[@IK_MK]

One of the downsides of sharing _"almost your whole life"_ with the internet 🤦‍♂️