Paris Hilton and journalist Laurie Segall launched a 14-part investigative docuseries on May 27 that names the man journalists linked to MrDeepFakes.com — the platform that hosted more than 70,000 non-consensual AI-generated videos before its shutdown in May 2025 and that, in seven years of operation, accumulated an estimated 2.2 billion views. The series, titled Searching for Mr. Deepfakes and available now on Hilton's TikTok channel, follows a three-year investigation into the anonymous operator of what Segall calls "one of the most dystopian websites I'd ever seen." Hilton, an early victim of non-consensual intimate imagery, has publicly stated that more than 100,000 explicit deepfake images of her have been created without her consent.
The case at the center of the series is no longer anonymous. A joint investigation published in May 2025 by CBC News, Bellingcat, and Danish outlets Politiken and Tjekdet identified David Do, a 36-year-old pharmacist at the Oak Valley Health network in the Greater Toronto Area, as the most prominent figure in the site's administration. Do had never been publicly named until the investigation published; within days of publication, MrDeepFakes shut down. Do was placed on leave from Oak Valley Health by May 13, 2025, and was no longer an employee by May 15. The Ontario College of Pharmacists opened a separate investigation. Do did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Bellingcat and its partners and has not commented publicly.
The site Do is alleged to have administered operated from 2018 until its May 4, 2025 closure. At its peak it drew 17 million monthly visitors. Its content ranged from AI-generated explicit videos of celebrities to custom-made deepfakes of private individuals — girlfriends, wives, coworkers, classmates — with some sellers charging hundreds of dollars per custom video. Private individuals, not celebrities, constituted the majority of documented cases in the site's forums, and the site hosted more than 1,000 videos depicting violent abuse.
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Segall spent a decade at CNN as a technology correspondent before leaving in 2019 to co-found what became Mostly Human, a creator-led media and entertainment network that formally launched in April 2026. She had been reporting on deepfake abuse for three years before the series came together and made a deliberate choice to bypass traditional documentary formats. Most episodes of Searching for Mr. Deepfakes run two to four minutes, built for TikTok's mobile-first format. The logic is direct: younger women are statistically the most likely targets of AI-enabled image abuse, and they are already on TikTok. Hilton's more than 12 million TikTok followers and 26 million Instagram followers function, as Segall put it, as a distribution infrastructure the investigation would otherwise need years and a streaming deal to build.
"The people I want to see this are folks who could be victims of deepfakes, teenagers, young girls, but also your mom, your wife, your sister," Segall told Press Gazette. "But also not just women."
Mostly Human, which Segall co-founded with Marc Weinhouse — a former Google and CBS executive who spent eight years at YouTube — is built on the premise that serious journalism can operate as what she calls "portable intellectual property." A single investigation need not be locked into one broadcast slot. Searching for Mr. Deepfakes launches first on TikTok; a four-part podcast version debuts on Mostly Human's platform via iHeartMedia on June 4, releasing weekly on Thursdays. Segall told Inc. that Mostly Human plans to close a funding round shortly, citing interest from platforms, journalists, creators, and investors.
Andrew Frank, a Gartner analyst covering technology, media, and marketing, has noted that distribution remains the defining challenge for creator-led journalism. "The key is figuring out what distribution models work, both economically and socially," he told Inc. The Searching for Mr. Deepfakes series is, in part, an answer to that question: Hilton's audience replaces the traditional broadcast deal.
"I love this idea of creating a new playbook for unscripted content," Segall told Variety. "This is kind of a beta test for it."
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MrDeepFakes was not simply a site that hosted harmful content; it taught users how to produce it. The platform provided tutorials for open-source deepfake tools and hosted a marketplace where users accepted custom requests for explicit videos of named targets. Investigators at Bellingcat pieced together Do's alleged involvement using cross-referenced data from credential leaks, repeated usernames, unique passwords, and IP addresses — building what they describe as more than a decade of digital trail. The site drew 12 million monthly active users as of November 2023 and 17 million at its peak.
The site shut down on May 4, 2025, four days before the Bellingcat/CBC investigation published, after Do was notified he would be named. MrDeepFakes posted a message attributing the closure to "a critical service provider" that had terminated its relationship with the site.
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Researchers across multiple institutions have documented the consequences of non-consensual intimate imagery: depression, loss of sense of self, difficulty forming trusting relationships, fear of being stalked or re-identified, and social humiliation that can persist for years. Victims often have no practical mechanism to remove content once it has been distributed across multiple platforms. For women who are not celebrities — the majority of MrDeepFakes' documented targets — the combination of identifying personal information with explicit imagery creates conditions for extortion, harassment, and stalking.
Hilton has spoken publicly about her experience being subjected to non-consensual intimate imagery before she was 20 years old, describing it as among the most traumatizing experiences of her life. In January 2026, she joined Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Laurel Lee at a Capitol Hill press conference to push for the DEFIANCE Act — the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act — which would give victims a federal civil right to sue creators and distributors of non-consensual deepfakes for a minimum of $150,000 per violation. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on January 13, 2026. As of May 30, 2026, the bill remains at the desk in the House, with no floor vote scheduled.
The legal landscape has moved — but not fully. The TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed by President Trump in May 2025, created criminal penalties for distributing non-consensual intimate imagery and required platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of a valid request. The FTC began enforcing the law's civil penalty provision on May 19, 2026, with fines of $53,088 per violation for platforms that fail to comply. Still, research published in 2026 by TechPolicy.Press found that the supply of and demand for deepfake pornography on monitored platforms actually increased after TAKE IT DOWN passed — a finding its authors attribute partly to the law's publicity introducing new users to deepfake communities.
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The Searching for Mr. Deepfakes series is also an experiment in whether serious investigative journalism can survive — and spread — in a format platform algorithms were not designed to reward. Segall has described the series as a "beta test" for a new playbook for unscripted content: episodes short enough for TikTok's algorithm, investigative depth sufficient for a four-episode podcast, and advocacy integration built in through Hilton's existing profile on the DEFIANCE Act.
The series includes victim interviews, footage from Segall's years of field reporting, behind-the-scenes investigative material, and footage from Segall's testimony in California on related legislation. The victim resource website beyondmrdeepfakes.com was launched alongside the series for anyone affected by non-consensual deepfake imagery.
No criminal charges have been publicly filed against David Do as of the time of publication. A Danish member of parliament called for his extradition in May 2025; Dutch politicians joined that call in August 2025. Canadian law at the time of the site's shutdown did not criminalize the creation or distribution of deepfakes, though Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged during the 2025 election campaign to make both offenses criminal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is behind MrDeepFakes?
David Do, a 36-year-old pharmacist who worked at the Oak Valley Health hospital network in the Greater Toronto Area, was identified by a May 2025 joint investigation by CBC News, Bellingcat, Politiken, and Tjekdet as the most prominent figure in the site's administration. Do left Oak Valley Health by May 15, 2025. No criminal charges have been publicly filed, and Do has not commented publicly.
Is MrDeepFakes still active?
MrDeepFakes.com permanently shut down on May 4, 2025, after its operators were notified they would be named in the Bellingcat/CBC investigation. A notice on the site's homepage stated that a critical service provider had terminated service and that the site would not relaunch. The site had operated since 2018.
What is the DEFIANCE Act and has it passed?
The DEFIANCE Act — the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act — would give victims of non-consensual deepfake pornography a federal civil right to sue creators and distributors for a minimum of $150,000 per violation. The US Senate passed the bill unanimously in January 2026. As of late May 2026, the bill remains at the desk in the House of Representatives, awaiting a floor vote before it can be signed into law.
How can victims of deepfake abuse report or remove content?
Under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which became federal law in May 2025, any person depicted in non-consensual intimate imagery — including AI-generated deepfakes — can file a removal request directly with any covered platform without creating an account. Platforms are legally required to remove the content and known copies within 48 hours. Victims can also visit beyondmrdeepfakes.com for resources and support.
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