Jenna Ortega, the talented actor from 'Beetlejuice' and Netflix's 'Wednesday', recently opened up about her decision to delete her X, (formerly Twitter) account due to disturbing AI-generated messages. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Ms Ortega shared her struggles with fame, identity, and the dark side of social media.
Ms Ortega revealed she was advised to create an account on X, early in her career to boost her public image. However, after encountering ''absurd and disturbing'' content, including explicit images and photos, she decided to delete her account two years ago.
"I hate AI. I mean, here's the thing: AI could be used for incredible things. I think I saw something the other day where they were saying that artificial intelligence was able to detect breast cancer four years before it progressed. That's beautiful. Let's keep it to that. Did I like being 14 and making a Twitter account because I was supposed to and seeing dirty edited content of me as a child? No. It's terrifying. It's corrupt. It's wrong," she said.
She recalled a harrowing experience from her early days online: "When I was 12, I opened my first direct message on social media, and it was an unsolicited explicit photo of a man's genitals. That was just the beginning of the disturbing messages I received."
"Anyway, that's why I deleted it because I couldn't say anything without seeing something like that. So one day I just woke up, and I thought, 'Oh, I don't need this anymore.' So I dropped it,'' she added.
Despite her negative experience on X, she maintains an active presence on Instagram, where she has a massive following of over 38 million users.
The issue of AI-generated explicit content, also known as deepfake pornography, has become a pressing concern, disproportionately affecting women. This phenomenon involves the use of artificial intelligence to create realistic and manipulated explicit content, often without the consent of the individuals depicted.
Several individuals, including high-profile celebrities like Taylor Swift, have also been targeted by creators of realistic AI porn. Earlier this year, Swift's likeness was used in a series of explicit posts that went viral on X, prompting the platform to temporarily block searches for the singer as a safety measure.
