Nudifying Bots, Deepfakes, and Automated Archives: How AI Powers a Monetized Abuse Ecosystem on Telegram

Why It Matters

The findings expose how low‑cost AI tools are turning sexual abuse into a scalable profit engine, pressuring regulators and platforms to act before the market expands further.

Key Takeaways

• Nudifying bots mentioned 16,232 times in 2.8 M Telegram messages
• 49.7% of links lead to AI girlfriend generators; 19.1% to nudifying bots
• Archives sell non‑consensual images for $22‑$55 or $5.45 monthly
• Affiliates earn up to 40% commission, driving a profit‑centered abuse market

Pulse Analysis

Artificial intelligence has lowered the technical barrier to producing realistic nude imagery, turning what once required sophisticated deep‑fake expertise into a click‑and‑run service. In Telegram’s semi‑private groups across Italy and Spain, users exchange prompts for commercial chatbots such as Grok and Gemini, then feed the outputs into nudifying bots that transform ordinary photos into synthetic explicit content. The sheer volume—over 16,000 bot mentions in under three million messages—demonstrates how quickly these tools can proliferate when combined with a platform that encourages rapid community formation and anonymity.

The abuse is not merely a hobbyist pastime; it is a monetized operation. Sellers package archives of non‑consensual images, including child sexual abuse material, for one‑time fees of $22‑$55 or recurring subscriptions starting at $5.45. Payments flow through PayPal, cryptocurrencies, and Spain’s Bizum service, while affiliates promote nudifying bots for commissions as high as 40 percent. This financial incentive fuels a feedback loop: higher earnings attract more participants, expanding the pool of victims as AI makes image generation cheaper and faster. Telegram’s premium subscription model, which generated $292 million in 2024, indirectly supports this ecosystem by offering features—such as folder organization and automated access control—that streamline illicit group management.

Regulators are now confronting a gray area where synthetic sexual content skirts existing child‑exploitation laws. The report urges the European Union to classify Telegram as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act and to ban nudifying tools outright. Incorporating mandatory safeguards into the forthcoming AI Act could curb the creation and distribution of non‑consensual synthetic imagery, forcing platforms to adopt proactive detection and takedown mechanisms. Without such measures, the convergence of AI and monetized abuse threatens to normalize a new form of digital exploitation across borders.