Meanwhile, Clothoff continues to evolve, recently marketing a feature that Clothoff claims attracted more than a million users eager to make explicit videos out of a single picture.
Clothoff denies it plans to use influencers
Der Spiegel’s efforts to unmask the operators of Clothoff led the outlet to Eastern Europe, after reporters stumbled upon a “database accidentally left open on the Internet” that seemingly exposed “four central people behind the website.”
This was “consistent,” Der Spiegel said, with a whistleblower claim that all Clothoff employees “work in countries that used to belong to the Soviet Union.” Additionally, Der Spiegel noted that all Clothoff internal communications it reviewed were written in Russian, and the site’s email service is based in Russia.
A person claiming to be a Clothoff spokesperson named Elias denied knowing any of the four individuals flagged in their investigation, Der Spiegel reported, and disputed the $3 million budget figure. Elias claimed a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from discussing Clothoff’s team any further. However, soon after reaching out, Der Spiegel noted that Clothoff took down the database, which had a name that translated to “my babe.”
Regarding the shared marketing plan for global expansion, Elias denied that Clothoff intended to use celebrity influencers, saying that “Clothoff forbids the use of photos of people without their consent.”
He also denied that Clothoff could be used to nudify images of minors; however, one Clothoff user who spoke to Der Spiegel on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that his attempt to generate a fake nude of a US singer failed initially because she “looked like she might be underage.” But his second attempt a few days later successfully generated the fake nude with no problem. That suggests Clothoff’s age detection may not work perfectly.
As Clothoff’s growth appears unstoppable, the user explained to Der Spiegel why he doesn’t feel that conflicted about using the app to generate fake nudes of a famous singer.
