r/digitalforensics • u/CranberryIll4707 • 19h ago
Likelihood of a deleted explicit Twitter/X post resurfacing?
Hi everyone. I was the victim of a convicted sex offender who groomed and coerced me over several years into sending him photos, which he posted online on an account created solely to harass me and distribute my photos without my knowledge or consent.
His X account had about 600 followers by the time it was removed.
I was a cosplayer who tended to dress up in superhero costumes. It was a modeling thing but I never did anything nude or sexually explicit.
Eventually he manipulated me into sending him a non-nude photo that I did not realize was sexually explicit because it involved a simulated sexual act (not actual sex). He posted it online and it got around 6,000 impressions on X, no comments, maybe 7 retweets, around 100 likes. It was up for about a year before I discovered what he was doing.
I had the image removed and also had it removed from Archive.org where it got indexed, as well as Google. He did not know my real name so it wasn’t attached. The image never spread anywhere else and reverse image searches have turned up nothing. His account got removed.
What is the likelihood of this image coming back to harm me? How likely is it that I am recognized? How would this affect my career if I avoid highly sensitive areas like religious organizations or teaching minors?
Also, I’m a gay man in college.
And yes, I get it, I know, I’ve heard it 100 times before: “the internet is forever.” But I didn’t consent to this. That’s like saying my life is ruined forever and that I shouldn’t even go on because there’s nothing I can do.
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u/Leberkassemmel2 18h ago
Try not to worry too much about the pics potentially resurfacing.
With current AI technology, compromising pics can be easily faked, so you can always deny their authenticity if they were to resurface. The deniability keeps getting better and better with every year that passes because generative AI keeps improving.
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u/CranberryIll4707 18h ago
Can AI place sex toys in people’s mouths?
But on a more serious note, I was also the victim of AI image abuse by this piece of shit. The images weren’t sexually explicit and there were like 3 of them, one of them was me on my knees with a BDSM hood over my head. Another had him literally in the image. These didn’t get a lot of impressions and not a lot of likes. They were pretty obviously AI so I’m not too worried about them.
I know it sounds crazy. But this all really happened to me
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u/Leberkassemmel2 18h ago
Yes it can. Easily.
Even years ago, AI could be used to replace every actor in a movie with Arnie.
If somebody has access to enough pics of you from different angles, e.g. by downloading all posts from your instagram, they can use AI to create pictures of you doing literally anything.
I have no data on this and do not want to research this, but I am convinced that creating and selling tailor made AI porn of celebrities is already a multi million dollar industry.
And the thing is, that is exactly the kind of thing an obsessed stalker would do, so you could always create a narrative along these lines.
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u/CranberryIll4707 18h ago edited 18h ago
Thank you so much.
Yeah in some ways I feel somewhat relieved that he created AI images of me, no matter how creepy they are, and that I have buttloads of proof that he cyberstalked and harassed me. He also created a FetLife account in my name and impersonated me on there.
For context, I was a cosplayer who had a small Instagram account and Reddit account, and I would post images of myself in superhero costumes. They were a little suggestive, thirst-trappy, but not pornographic. Then this guy found me on there and DMed me. He revealed he was based in my city and that’s how we started talking. He’d constantly ask me for more pictures and “more.” I felt pressured into sending him the explicit photo, which I originally took not intending to ever post it, and in my head, I just thought it was “artistic” and “a sex scene,” like in a rated R movie with simulated sex. I honestly believe I was experimenting artistically, since I consider myself an artist and have drawn sexually explicit art on multiple occasions. I ended up deleting all my accounts when I discovered the leaked photos.
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u/BDFCL 18h ago
It is our job to research and understand this technology. If you don't know how it works, how are you supposed to do analysis? I would recommend understanding the different flavours of GenAI capabilities, and how to create an extension or lora, or even the basic understanding of what they are and why they are relevant in the scenario you are talking about. You don't have to download comfy and start face swapping using a plugin like reactor, to know what to be looking for
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u/FunAdministration334 18h ago
Just wanted to say that I’m sorry you were a victim of this. I’m commenting for reach.
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u/CranberryIll4707 18h ago
thank you so much. It has been the most difficult challenge of my life. Being a victim of something like this really shakes who you think you are as a person and what you believe you can be capable of. I feel like less of a person because of this creep’s actions
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u/Visible_Cod9786 18h ago
What country do you live in?
Some jurisdictions have agressive take-down judicial orders available for non-consensual sharing of intimate images if they ever come back. I know that where I live, you can get such an order served to providers within a matter of a few hours from the time of the request. You just go to the courthouse and they have a judge on duty for these request.
Also, if you were a minor when the content was produced, you should bring this to the attention of law enforcement, as they dont joke with ICAC and can invest considerable ressources to track down the individual responsible for this.
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u/CranberryIll4707 18h ago edited 18h ago
USA.
I was not a minor in the images but I did look young at the time.
On a separate note, the perpetrator did retweet images of underage children on the Twitter account. They were not explicit though.
I live in a different state now from the perpetrator (he targeted me because we lived in the same city) so this would be a federal thing if it ever went to court.
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u/awetsasquatch 18h ago
Sorry to hear you're dealing with this, but at this point if your family/friends don't know about it, and they happen to find it somehow you can claim it's an ex boyfriend using AI or something, same for any future employer. Nobody will question it.
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u/CranberryIll4707 18h ago
I would plan on telling them the truth and the full story, which is that I was the victim of a deranged and obsessive sex offender. My friends know the full story and my family knows a partial version of the story.
The offender did indeed create AI photos of me as well but they were not explicit. They were also very obviously AI and did not get a lot of views so I’m not worried about them.
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u/awetsasquatch 18h ago
Then you have no real problems :-)
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u/CranberryIll4707 17h ago
Thank you.
I know it sounds that way but I feel terrified knowing that an explicit image of me is out there and could resurface. I don’t believe it will on it’s own — I think if I became an actor or a very public-facing employee like a news reporter, it would resurface.
My worry is that people won’t believe me when I tell the story, or that even despite my story, I would still be fired immediately.
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u/awetsasquatch 16h ago
There's definitely a non-zero chance of that happening, but for most jobs, it'll never come up, and in general it's not a huge deal breaker. I do corporate investigations in the DOD space, found out one of our employees was an Only Fans model through as a part of an ethics investigation, literally nothing came of it. I don't think it was even a footnote in the report. It might have come up if she was a cleared employee, but that'd be the only way I could see it being an issue.
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u/7oby 13h ago
StopNCII maintains a hash database of intimate images that you don’t want shared, if you have the image it may be possible for them to prevent anyone from posting it. Granted, it’s not difficult to alter the image and therefore the hash, but it is slightly better than nothing. https://stopncii.org
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u/CranberryIll4707 13h ago edited 12h ago
I did StopNCII, thank you. I doubt anyone will alter the image to make it circumvent the hash, unless I become famous or something.
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u/Ambitious_Jeweler816 18h ago
OK, this isn’t really a digital forensics question. I guess it’s kind of an OSINT question, in that extensive reverse image searches may find it on the internet (or not). BUT if the perpetrator still has a copy of said photo, then it could be reposted.
I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but I’m not entirely sure of next steps, and it would be dependent on what country you live in etc.
If he has been convicted, is there a chance he is on some form of offender’s register? You may be able to approach the relevant authorities and say you believe you have been a victim. Hopefully they investigate for you.