San Francisco orders Apple Google to delete AI nudify apps

San Francisco officials have ordered Apple and Google to remove a series of mobile applications that can generate nonconsensual nude images, escalating a legal and regulatory battle over the distribution of harmful artificial intelligence tools. City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to the two technology giants on Thursday, July 16, 2026, demanding they purge 13 specific "faceswap" apps from their respective app stores. The letters argue the companies are violating California law by profiting from apps that facilitate the creation of explicit deepfake content.

The targeted apps, eight on Apple's App Store and five on Google's Play Store, are marketed as face-swapping tools but are used to digitally "undress" people in photographs without their consent. Chiu's office contends that by hosting these apps and processing in-app payments, Apple and Google are effectively aiding and abetting the sale of illegal material. The city attorney stated that generating such imagery is "illegal, harmful, and completely unacceptable."

California law criminalizes knowingly facilitating the creation of nonconsensual deepfake explicit content and allows victims to pursue civil...