Tokyo Police Arrest Man over Sexual Deepfakes of Celebrities

Tokyo, Jan. 20 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly creating deepfake pornography of female celebrities and posting them on the internet. The suspect, Tatsuro Chiba, from Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, admitted the allegations against him, saying that he created the fake images to make money, according to investigative sources. The police believe Chiba uploaded at least 2,200 such images to paid membership websites in and after summer 2023, racking up sales of some 11 million yen. He was arrested on suspicion of posting 14 obscene fake images from Dec. 6, 2024, to May 3, 2025, on two membership websites. Chiba is suspected to have had generative artificial intelligence learn about 300 actresses and female idols. Some 520,000 fake images, including those of naked celebrities, were found in his computer. The suspect solicited customers of his deepfake pornography service through social media. As of November 2025, he is believed to have had some 80 subscribers, according to the sources. He sometimes accepted requests from high-value clients about which celebrities to use for deepfake pornography, the sources said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]