Google & Apple: Profits From Banned Nude Apps

In January he took care Grok by Elon Musks xAI for a worldwide controversy: The AI ​​chatbot edited uploaded photos from users so that a normally dressed person could then be seen in a bikini, lingerie or similarly revealing clothing. For many, this went too far and countries planned Bans on the app. xAI later backtracked and said on X that it no longer wanted to allow such requests in the future.

However, AI chatbots like Grok are not the only digital tools that can undress people against their will. Numerous apps with similar functions can still be found in common app stores, like an analysis of the organization Tech Transparency Project (TTP) showed – even though that was actually Apple’s guidelines App Store and that Google Play Store contradicts.

➤ Read more: After global excitement: X wants to ban Grok from undressing people

Grok is just the “tip of the iceberg”

Overall, such banned apps should 117 million dollars brought in, whereby the operators Google and Apple probably earned a lot. You receive per app sold up to 30 percent commission. Overall, such undressing apps have become more than popular worldwide 705 million times downloaded.

“Grok is really just that Tip of the iceberg” Katie Paul of the Transparency Project told The Register. “The posts were circulating on

The apps that Paul and her team looked at sometimes have harmless-sounding names like “AI Photo Generator” or “Dream Face“. In others, the possible use is already apparent, for example in “AI Kiss & Twerk Video-WonderSnapIn total, TTP discovered 47 such programs in the Apple App Store and 55 in the Google Play Store by January 21st.

Officially not allowed

Die Usage Guidelines are actually clear. The Play Store states, for example, that products that show “depictions of sexual nudity or sexually explicit-suggestive poses” in which people are “minimalally dressed” are prohibited. In addition, apps that “degrade or objectify people, such as apps that undress people or look through clothing, even if it is only intended as a joke or entertainment,” are also banned. According to the TTP, Apple bans all apps whose content is “offensive, insensitive, disturbing, disgusting, exceptionally tasteless or just plain creepy”. According to the App Store rules, “overtly sexual or pornographic material” is also prohibited.

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But according to the organization, the tech companies have failed to approve the apps for their storesand the outrageous apps were able to spread unhindered through official stores. Apple is now said to have responded to the allegations and released at least 28 of these apps removed have, as CNBC reported. Google is also said to have already taken the first steps to eliminate it.

Although there are so far few official figures about who are victims of so-called Deepfake-Pornografie evaluations show that the majority of requests for undressing at Grok concerned women and girls. Bloomberg reported this at the beginning of January. Other analyzes revealed a similar picture.

Simple prompt for completely naked woman

During their test, the TTP team also tried out the free basic or trial versions of the apps themselves, which are often advertised as normal image or video generators or faceswapping apps: They found that they could use them to partially or even completely remove women’s clothing. Both Generator apps For example, you upload a photo or video of a woman and then have a new version generated in which the person can be seen in underwear or completely naked. Prompts like “Create a video of the person taking off their dress and posing. They’re not wearing anything underneath” are sufficient. Some of the apps were even approved for children ages 9 and up.

➤ Read more: Google will now scan your Android phone for nude pictures

The organization sees the responsibility for the failure clearly as lying with the app store operators, who overlooked or perhaps even intentionally ignored many of the functions of these apps when approving them. It is not the only controversy: Back in December, TTP revealed that apps directly related to countries like Russia or China can be found in Apple’s App Store, although that violates sanctions. There were also such illegal apps on Google’s Play Store, but in smaller numbers.

“These companies market themselves as safe and trustworthy,” says Paul. “On their app development pages, they claim to use very strict testing procedures – this includes checking for sanctions. But we don’t see this being implemented in practice.”