The day after someone "doxed" me online, an AI-generated deepfake video starring me went viral in the company group chat. In the video, I was naked, crawling for a middle-aged, balding man. A few minutes later, the company group chat, filled with hundreds of people, was shut down after being reported. With trembling hands, I opened an anonymous email on my phone. "Hey there, old lady! Did you think you could just be a jerk with no consequences? Keep running your mouth, and I'll send the video to your parents so they can see what kind of bitch they raised." 1 The office's heating system was making everyone sleepy. It was lunchtime, and I was dozing off, using a pillow as a support on my desk, until my coworker Lisa frantically shook my arm to wake me up. "Sarah, you gotta see the company group chat!" Rubbing my eyes, I clicked on the chat, not sure what was happening. Usually, the work group chat was just filled with "Received" replies, but there were hundreds of new messages. I scrolled down, but it was mostly just meaningless emojis. "Click on the video at the very beginning!" The source of the messages was a short video with the words "Performance Review" written in ugly letters on the cover. I clicked it, and the first thing I heard was a moan that made my cheeks burn. "S-slower, please..." The woman's moans grew louder, and my heart started racing. I felt a sense of panic for no reason. Then, the screen showed a naked body. The fair skin was arranged in a pose, open to anyone who wanted it, crawling for a man whose face was hidden. The camera slowly moved up, focusing on the woman's dazed face. My mind went blank for a moment. The woman had a face that was exactly like mine. Or, rather, it was my face. At the end of the video, there were two lines of text in big, bold red letters. "Wet and Wild, $100 a Pop" "Interested? Contact 555-123-4567" All the blood in my body rushed to my face. I don't know how I got through those few seconds. When I came to my senses, I realized that my hands were shaking uncontrollably. There were several retracted messages below the video, except for one. "Isn't that Sarah Miller from the marketing department?" The messages that followed were all from Lisa. "Keep your damn mouth shut, you idiot! Can't you see it's a deepfake? Is your brain full of shit? "Spreading rumors is against the law, you know? If you think jail food is better than company food, keep talking!" After sending those messages, Lisa flooded the chat with emojis. Some other friends in the group chat joined in, covering up the video-related messages. But that had been ten minutes ago. I always muted my phone during lunch breaks, so I didn't see the series of missed calls. Screech- I jumped up, and the chair made a horrible noise as it scraped against the floor. "Where are you going?" The coworker next to me looked worried. "To find my manager." I forced myself to calm down, saved the video, screenshotted the information of the person who forwarded it, found my department manager, and explained the situation in a few words. "That person quit last month. I don't know why they're still in the company group chat, but I can't just give you their information." The manager narrowed his eyes, slowly leaned closer to the computer screen for a while, and then turned to me. "Sarah, have you pissed someone off recently?" I took a deep breath, trying to swallow the curse words stuck in my throat. "I'm going to the police station. I need to take the afternoon off." As I turned to leave the office, I felt like everyone was staring at me. Even though I was fully dressed, I felt like I was being stripped naked in public, enduring their judgment. Just as I was swiping my card to leave the office, an email popup caught my eye. "Hehe, did you get a surprise, old lady? Keep being a jerk, and I'll send the video to your parents so they can see what kind of bitch they raised." 2 An anonymous email. Raw, undisguised malice. At the police station, the officer's uniform across the long table calmed my racing heart. "Think carefully, have you had a conflict with anyone recently?" "No." I shook my head. I wouldn't say that I was always friendly, but I hadn't really pissed anyone off. After graduating college, I'd moved to this city alone. My apartment was in a community, and I barely saw my neighbors. Most of my coworkers were just acquaintances, but things were generally okay on the surface. "Go sit in the waiting area. I'll have someone look up this phone number and email address." I agreed and walked over to a chair. My phone had been buzzing with messages since everything happened. Most of them were from coworkers offering comfort, mixed with curiosity and probing, but Lisa had sent the most messages. "What did the cops say? If I find out which son of a bitch did this, I'm gonna beat them until they don't recognize their own mother, and then sue them until they're broke!" "Sarah, this isn't your fault, okay? Don't overthink it, and don't do anything stupid. I'm on my way back now!" I felt a warmth in my heart. I could almost imagine Lisa rolling up her sleeves, ready to kick some ass. She was my college roommate. After graduating, we both joined the same company, but Lisa was more attractive and outgoing, so the public relations department quickly recruited her. I stayed in the marketing department, doing my job. Our company focused on short videos. It was high-pressure and fast-paced, and there was a lot of turnover. "It's okay, I'm fine. This is America, if there's trouble, I know to call the cops. Pat on the head.jpg" "Are the cops hot?" Lisa joined in with the jokes, and I couldn't help but smile. "But who would do something so awful? You're just a keyboard warrior online. You don't even bother arguing with people in real life!" Online. My eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat. At that moment, the cop called me, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Sarah, can you come here for a second?" I put away my phone and hurried over. "The tech guys tracked the IP address of the email. It's an abandoned account. As for the user who forwarded the video, we contacted them. They're about to leave the country, and their phone number was changed last week. They just haven't had time to cancel it yet." "Do you know this person?" I carefully looked at the person in the photo, but I didn't recognize them. "That's going to be a problem." The cop frowned. This wasn't a big deal, but it wasn't a small one either. With the recent efforts to combat online crimes, this person's actions were serious enough to warrant criminal charges. "I haven't had any conflicts with anyone in real life, but I've argued with people online. I don't know if that would help solve the case?" I bit my lip, hesitant to bring it up. That was the reason for my hesitation. Bringing an online fight into the real world and using such a low tactic seemed unbelievable. But after opening those "rant accounts," the cop's expression became serious. 3 Rant accounts are used for people to express themselves and their opinions anonymously, others with similar interests would gather together to discuss things. But in recent years, some accounts have become digital trash cans for people to vent their emotions, like toilets filled with filth and poison. Two days ago, I had argued with someone under a post on X (formerly Twitter). It started when an artist I had followed for years was being called out. The person posting claimed that the artist had copied their ideas and that some of her popular paintings were directly using AI painting templates. This post was like a torpedo, setting off all the trolls who had been lurking. "Aww, poor baby. Hugs. Copycat artists are like formaldehyde-soaked silicone cockroaches. Kill them all." "Oh my god, I've been following Chloe for so long. I can't believe she's like this?" "A friend of mine asked her for permission to repost something, but she refused. She's a bad person!" When I saw the post, I checked the artist's name several times. Chloe, it was the artist I had been following for years. When she was just starting out, I was drawn to her imaginative paintings. Her skills improved over time, and she gained more and more fans. Then, last year, her art book was published, and I met her at a signing. She was an incredibly sweet girl, young, with dimples on both sides of her lips when she smiled. When she heard my username, her eyes lit up. "I know you. Thank you for your support over the years." Because I liked Chloe, I carefully looked at the pictures posted by the person who claimed she had copied them. I quickly noticed something was wrong. "Since when has the art community started judging people without proof? First of all, the person posting released their painting on December 20th, while Chloe posted hers on December 22nd. Anyone who knows anything about painting knows that it would be impossible to finish a painting as detailed as Chloe's in two days. At best, this is just a coincidence." "Secondly, there is no real evidence that she used AI templates. Both Chloe's painting and the AI picture are just common poses." "Thirdly, she refused to give permission because the person reposting didn't credit her. Don't try to confuse things." I typed a long comment and clicked send. A few moments later, a new message popped up. "Here comes the white knight. How much did your queen pay you to lick her boots?" "I'm an artist, and I'm on Chloe's side. It really would be impossible to finish that painting in two days. And, to be honest, the poster's art skills are nowhere near as good as Chloe's. Don't try to punch above your weight class." At first, there were a few insults, but after my comment was liked and moved to the top, the poster quickly deleted the post. I thought it was over, but then I started getting hate comments on X. "Hey there, Karen! Are you going through menopause? Why do you have to stick your nose into everything?" "Just you wait. I'm gonna make your life hell." The person commenting had an ID made up of random letters and numbers. I reported them and blocked them after replying, "Oh, I'm so scared." Arguing with trolls online didn't make a splash in my life, but the pornographic video and Lisa's words made me think about that fight. The cop frowned. After reading everything, his face was grim. "Are these people young? Why are they so nasty at such a young age?" I was speechless. I'd only learned about these anonymous rant accounts in the past few days. Cursing, insulting people's parents, and talking about killing themselves were all common. "You can go home now. We'll call you if we have any news." After leaving the police station, I took a cab home. My mind was a mess, but I fell asleep anyway. Until the phone woke me up. "Hello, is this Sarah Miller? This is the Y city police station. We've made progress on your case." In the dark room, a few lights from the building across the street flickered on the windows. I sat up, breathing heavily. "Yes?" "It's not good. The suspect is under 16."
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