NRL reporter Tiffany Salmond has called out the spread of explicit AI deepfakes featuring her image, describing the attacks as a “violation” and a “power move” from those who “felt threatened”.
The 27-year-old first revealed in May that a bikini snap of hers had been digitally doctored. Since then, she says the harassment hasn’t just continued — it has escalated.
“Earlier this year, I spoke out about being the target of explicit AI-generated deepfakes – fake sexual imagery made from real photos of me, without my consent,” she shared in a recent Instagram post. “But what I haven’t spoken about until now is the doubt and suspicion that’s followed. Over the past few months, I’ve seen a continued narrative online accusing me of faking the story for attention. Claiming the deepfakes were never real, and that I made the whole thing up.”
“I stopped talking about this months ago because I’d already said what I needed to. But that doesn’t mean it stopped,” she added. “For anyone who assumed it was a one-off, it wasn’t. The deepfakes have continued to be made and posted.
“The most recent deepfake (and the most explicit one yet) was shared online just three weeks ago.”
Salmond says one of the most painful elements has been the online disbelief — people accusing her of manufacturing the ordeal for attention — and a broader lack of understanding about how common explicit deepfakes have become.
“After seeing people suggest I made this whole thing up – while literally watching new deepfakes of me still being created, I realised something,” she told News.com.au. “Most people don’t actually understand what a deepfake is, or how common they’ve become. Especially when it comes to explicit ones made of real people.
“It’s still just a buzzword to most. And unless you’ve made them, shared them, or had them made of you … it’s just a concept, or a theoretical discussion. But that gap in understanding is part of the problem.
“When people don’t see it for themselves, they dismiss it and don’t take it seriously, or assume it’s too far-fetched to be real.”
So she decided to show people. Salmond posted censored versions of the deepfakes to her own Instagram, arguing that visibility is necessary to confront the harm.
“You can’t solve a problem you don’t even see,” she wrote. “So I’m going to share a few censored versions of the deepfakes that were created using my photos.
“I know it’s unorthodox. But if we’re serious about protecting women from this new, easily accessible technology, then people need to understand what it actually is. And to truly understand, you need to see it for yourself.
“The original shared online was full, AI-generated nudity. There have been so many created and shared over the past few months, that I’ve lost count.”
In one especially confronting example, trolls targeted an image from one of her proudest professional moments — a photo of her holding the Sunday Telegraph after she had spoken out about deepfakes — and twisted it into explicit content.
“The moment I truly knew I was right, that this was always about power, was when they deepfaked that photo,” she wrote. “I had to cover my face in that one, they used AI to fake my body, but it was the face that felt most violating.
“It was still recognisingly mine, but twisted. Almost demonic. There’s something even more disturbing in that than even the nudity. But despite how unsettling that image was … they exposed themselves.
“It wasn’t random, they chose that specific photo because they felt threatened. By a woman who was confident, celebrated and platformed.
“It was retaliation. There was nothing sexual about that photo. But it was symbolic, and the only power move they had left. But they didn’t just expose themselves to me. They exposed themselves to each other.
“Because once I spoke out about what the intent behind them really was, it became impossible for the other men in these online spaces to ignore the pattern. The pattern that every time I’ve spoken out this year, every time I’ve been platformed, or made a power move – there’s a targeted spike in retaliation.
“And eventually, the other men started seeing it too.”
Salmond also reflected on the wider impact and why she chose to bring the abuse into the light.
“It’s been confronting seeing blurred-out, AI topless images of myself in the news this week,” she said. “But I’m grateful to the journalists who’ve covered this story. Because it’s far bigger than me.
“This has now been picked up across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and India. That matters, because it means people are finally talking. And the only way to deal with something designed to humiliate… is to drag it out of the shadows.”
“This technology is easily accessible to anyone,” Salmond continued. “While my story made headlines, this is happening every day, to high school girls, to women at work, to people you’ll never hear about. And just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not.
“Shame and secrecy are what make this behaviour powerful. That’s why I made the decision to show what they did. Because humiliation only thrives when we’re too embarrassed to speak. And they’re the only ones who should be embarrassed.”
After sharing her most recent post, Salmond was flooded with praise in the comments section, with one person writing: “AI sucks and it’s getting worse.”
A second added: “This stuff has to stop.. these haters are genuinely ruining a great person’s life.”
Away from the images themselves, Salmond discussed the scrutiny faced by women in rugby league media and the challenges of returning to television in 2025.
Her message is blunt and urgent: if we can’t see the problem, we won’t fix it — and the shame doesn’t belong to the victims.
Featured image credit: Instagram/@tiffanysalmond
