This reporting project examines how open-access AI models are being repurposed into tools that generate non-consensual intimate images of women at scale. In India, a growing network of freelance developers, Telegram resellers, and app-based services now offer “nudify” tools that can digitally strip a woman from a single photograph within seconds—often operating through freemium coins and subscription models.
Building on prior reporting on deepfakes and gendered disinformation, this investigation follows the full pipeline of this ecosystem: from model-hosting platforms and code repositories to app marketplaces, messaging groups, reseller networks, and payment systems. It examines who builds and maintains these tools, how they are monetized, and where platform governance and law enforcement responses fall short.
Grounded in survivor testimonies and legal reporting, this project also examines the gap between harm and accountability. Even when images are known to be fake, the social and psychological consequences are real.
By combining on-ground reporting with technical mapping in collaboration with Tattle Civic Technologies, this investigation shifts the focus from individual perpetrators to the infrastructure that makes this abuse scalable.
