Deepfakes Targeting Athletes: What Sports Organisations and Victims Must Know

Athletes, particularly women athletes, face disproportionate deepfake intimate image targeting fueled by extensive media coverage providing high-quality public photo material. Professional and amateur athletes have the same rights to discover their exposure as any other person. Sports organisations, leagues, and teams have emerging obligations to support athlete victims.

Why athletes are targeted

Professional athlete photo libraries are extensive, games coverage, press conferences, social media, sponsor content, and broadcast footage provide AI tools with thousands of high-quality images. For women athletes specifically, research documents significantly higher rates of deepfake targeting than equivalent male athletes. The combination of high-resolution coverage and a public profile that some assume reduces privacy expectations makes athletes particularly vulnerable.

League and club obligations

Sports organisations have duty-of-care obligations to athlete employees. Teams and leagues that become aware of deepfake intimate image abuse targeting their athletes should treat this as a serious workplace safety matter, involving legal, HR, and security teams immediately. Several professional leagues have developed specific deepfake NCII support protocols since 2025.

Athlete rights to discover exposure

All athletes, professional, amateur, student, retired, have the same rights to discover their exposure online. The discovery process applies regardless of whether content appears on major platforms or specialist sites. ScanErase provides athletes and their management teams with a streamlined discovery process.