The level of fame achieved by Scarlett Johansson brings with it money and adulation, but also a host of new problems that most people could never imagine, like getting your face realistically pasted onto the body of a porn actress and billed as "leaked" footage to be viewed by millions of people.
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These videos, called "deepfakes" are becoming easier to make as the technology behind them becomes more accessible and there are already many "starring" Johansson. Although no one wants to be in porn without their consent, Johanssen has resigned herself to what she can't control. She told The Washington Post in an interview:
Clearly this doesn’t affect me as much because people assume it’s not actually me in a porno, however demeaning it is. I think it’s a useless pursuit, legally, mostly because the internet is a vast wormhole of darkness that eats itself. There are far more disturbing things on the dark web than this, sadly. I think it’s up to an individual to fight for their own right to the their image, claim damages, etc.
I mean, this is coming from someone who has a guy from Hong Kong get famous from making an AI with my exact face on it that wasn’t ‘technically’ me. It’s a fruitless pursuit for me but a different situation than someone who loses a job over their image being used like that.
Read her full comments here.