
<p>Non-consensual deepfake porn is becoming increasingly pervasive, and it didn’t just come out of nowhere. These deepfakes were created and curated by people, on platforms, inside online subcultures. And they were allowed to spread, while governments dragged their feet, tech companies shrugged, and the targets — almost always women — paid the price.</p><p><br></p><p>Tech journalist Sam Cole has been covering deepfake porn since its inception. In this season of Understood, she follows the trail all the way to the source, tracing an investigation across three countries and four newsrooms into the very real person behind the world’s largest deepfake porn website: Mr. Deepfakes himself.</p>
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CBC Host
This is a CBC podcast.
Sam Cole
Deepfake videos are everywhere.
Narrator/Expert
Deepfake videos, which are manipulated using AI, can make someone appear as though they're saying or doing something that they're not.
Sam Cole
Some are so seamless, you might not even realize you're looking at a fake.
Investigator/Journalist
We're moving into a future where you.
CBC Host
Really won't know what's real online.
Sam Cole
You may have heard about the dangers deepfakes can pose to politics. These manipulated images can pose a very real national security threat.
CBC Host
Videos could become a real and present danger to our democracy.
Sam Cole
But no one was really thinking about porn.
CBC Host
No, nobody was thinking about porn.
Sam Cole
I'm Sam Cole. I was the first journalist to report on deepfake porn back in 2017. And I've been following the story ever since. And here's what I've learned. Deepfake porn didn't come out of nowhere. It was built by people on platforms inside subcultures. It was allowed to spread while governments dragged their feet and tech companies shrugged. And at every step someone profits, while the targets, almost always women, pay the price.
Deepfake Victim
I'm staring at myself in this video that I know I haven't made. I know I didn't consist to being made felt like such a deep, deep violation.
This is what pain looks like. This is what it looks like to feel violated. This is what it looks like to see yourself naked against your well being spread all over the Internet.
Sam Cole
Did you kind of decide, like, this is now in my hands, what else am I gonna do?
Deepfake Victim
I'm not just gonna like sit here and take it.
Sam Cole
This season on Understood, we meet the women who've been targeted in deepfake porn and ask if you follow the trail all the way to the source, who does it lead to?
Investigator/Journalist
These images, they were like hunting me. And the biggest platform was Mr. Deepfakes.
CBC Host
Mr. Deepfakes.
Deepfake Victim
Mr.— Deepfakes.
CBC Host
Mr. Deepfakes is the most notorious non consensual deepfake porn site in the world.
Sam Cole
A site distributing deepfake porn and training thousands of users to make it.
Deepfake Victim
We found what looked like an instruction manual.
Sam Cole
We'll follow a team of journalists across three countries and four newsrooms as they investigate the world's largest deepfake porn website and come face to face with the man behind it.
Investigator/Journalist
That Gmail was connected to a hotmail belonging to this random guy in Canada.
And we thought, this can't possibly be the guy. It was like a Breaking Bad scenario.
Sam Cole
Yeah, this was your Walter white.
Investigator/Journalist
Exactly.
Sam Cole
From CBC Podcasts. This is Understood. Deepfake Porn Empire coming February 17th. Wherever you get your podcasts, this is the hunt.
CBC Host
Now, this kind of like, how do we track him down? For more cbc podcasts, go to cbc ca podcasts.
Podcast: Understood
Host: CBC
Episode: Introducing Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire
Date: February 13, 2026
This introduction sets the stage for the latest season of Understood, focusing on the shadowy world of deepfake pornography. Hosted by journalist Sam Cole, the season promises to unravel the billion-click industry built on AI-generated, non-consensual porn, highlighting the devastating toll on its victims and exposing the network of people and platforms that drive this illicit trade. Through investigative reporting across multiple countries, the podcast seeks to track down the individuals profiting from these crimes, culminating in a revealing face-off with the so-called "kingpin" of deepfake porn in Canada.
Key Platforms: Mr. Deepfakes
International Investigation
Identifying the Kingpin
The episode is urgent, empathetic, and investigative, combining Sam Cole’s seasoned journalism with haunting victim testimony and the intrigue of a high-stakes international hunt. The mood invokes both the emotional realities of the targets and the suspense of a criminal investigation.
The trailer for Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire sets up a season that will expose the inner workings of a hidden, harmful industry. It centers on the stories of women whose lives have been upended by deepfake porn, the platforms that train and enable actors in this space, and the journalists determined to reveal those steering the empire from behind their screens. The investigation brings listeners from victim testimony to the doorstep of a Canadian kingpin, promising an in-depth, human-centered look at one of the internet’s darkest new frontiers.