What the Guardian reported
On 29 January 2026, Priya Bharadia and Aisha Down wrote in The Guardian that millions of people had created and shared deepfake nudes on Telegram. Their analysis found at least 150 channels with users named across many countries. Some channels charged to turn a photo of a woman into a sexual video. Others posted feeds of celebrities, influencers, and ordinary women, plus tips on AI tools.
The article places that trade next to older stolen-nudes channels. AI makes it faster to put a real face into graphic content without the person’s knowledge. Researchers quoted in the piece describe sharing among men as part of the harm, not only the file itself. Lawyers and women’s-tech groups in Kenya and Nigeria described lost jobs, school discipline, family ostracism, and loan-app blackmail.
Platforms said they remove it
Telegram told the Guardian that deepfake pornography and tools to make it are banned in its terms, that public parts of the app are moderated, and that it removed more than 952,000 offending items in 2025. The same investigation found that when one channel was taken down, another with a near-identical name often stayed up.
The report also cites the Tech Transparency Project: dozens of nudification apps in major app stores, with 705 million downloads counted together, not 705 million unique people. Apple said it had removed 28 of 47 apps named in that study. Google said most of the apps on its store had been suspended and that it was still investigating. Meta said it removes ads that break its rules after the newsletter Indicator counted thousands of nudifier ads on its platforms; some looked like scams.
What this does not mean
- It does not mean Telegram, hashing, or any one site has wiped these images
- AntiNCII cannot scan Telegram groups, bots, or encrypted chats
- A fingerprint may help only if a matching file is later uploaded to a participating public platform
- Removal is never guaranteed, including after a channel is deleted
- AntiNCII is independent of The Guardian, Telegram, Apple, Google, Meta, Ofcom, and StopNCII
If this is you
Adults 18+
Synthetic intimate images of you are in scope here. Do not pay, and do not send more photos. Report the channel or bot in Telegram. Report copies on each public site. If you still have a file on your device, create a case — the file stays local. First-day steps: New victims: Please read first.
Anyone under 18
Do not open an AntiNCII case. Use NCMEC, IWF, and local child-protection reporting.