Atrioc steps down over explicit deepfake scandal, wants to cover legal fees for victims
Atrioc, the Twitch streamer recently caught watching adult videos starring deepfake versions of female content creators, some of whom he worked with in the past, has announced that he will step down from content creation and the agency he helped co-found, Offbrand. Another one of Offbrand’s co-founders, Ludwig, is in a relationship with QTCinderella, one of the victims of the deepfake porn site Atrioc had visited and purchased access to.
QTCinderella had vowed to take down the website in question and sue its owners after seeing Atrioc’s apology, stating: "And to the person that made that website, I'm going to fucking sue you. I promise you, with every part of my soul. I'm going to fucking sue you."
Fortunately, it seems like she was able to reach her first goal very quickly, as Atrioc reports that the site has been taken down thanks to her determined actions. Atrioc announced that he’d step back from content creation for the time being to try his “absolute hardest to combat the damage” he caused by covering the legal fees of all victims for taking down such websites and filing lawsuits against the people behind them. He also wants to engage law firms to remove similar content from other sites.
It seems he also spoke to QTCinderella, who had criticized him during her short and emotional stream about the situation, and apologized to her personally. He also reiterated his apology to Pokimane and Maya, two of the other victims of the site, since deepfakes of them were visible on the stream clip that went viral and started this whole affair:
“Your names were dragged into it and you were sexualized against your will. You have both succeeded in this industry in spite of all the blatant unfounded sexist attempts to hurt or assassinate your character in a male dominated space. And now I'm another guy on that long list. I'm sorry I didn't reach out sooner, I'm sorry my actions have led to further exploitation of you and your body, and I'm sorry your experience is not uncommon.”
Atrioc also lashed out at people who had contacted him saying that he did nothing wrong: “Lastly, to anyone who has expressed the sentiment of ‘support’ that what I did wasn't wrong, or that I shouldn't apologize- Fuck you. Sincerely. I do not want your support, I do not stand with you.”
“My actions have taken me from someone I was proud of, trying to make a positive impact in my community, to a ‘deepfake porn guy’. The scar of that is felt deeply on my heart”, the streamer says at the beginning of his post, repeating the embarrassment he said he’d felt in his original apology video over the incident. “The reality is- I have it easy compared to the dozens of women who, from my actions, discovered they are exploited unconsensually. I'm sorry to all of you for the pain I caused with my action and its ripple effect.”
QTCinderella reported that she’d been sent deepfakes of herself engaging in explicit acts since the clip from Atrioc’s stream went viral, which was likely reinforced by Atrioc’s apology video.
“QT described it to me as a ‘wildfire’ and I believe that is correct. My goal now is concrete action to fight that wildfire and do everything I can do to combat the damage.”
Ultimately, it’s up to those affected to accept this apology or not – Atrioc seeking to take action and responsibility is still a step in the right direction.
