One man boasted to Yle that he can make 200 deepfake pornographic images a day, as Finnish law does not prevent the creating of such material.Deepfake images are usually created by manipulating real photographs.Ronan Browne7:38Ella (not her real name) froze in disbelief when she discovered there were nude photos of her being circulated on pornographic websites."Can this really happen? It felt like a nightmare at first. Then the shock and panic hit," she recalled.The nude images of Ella were not real, but instead someone had created them using artificial intelligence (AI) by manipulating photos taken from her social media accounts.The phenomenon of so-called 'deepfake' images has spread rapidly in recent years, driven by the wide availability of many easy-to-use apps whose sole purpose is to strip clothes off women and girls.The fake images of Ella were still visible via a Google search. Yle's editorial team blurred the images of Ella. Image: Marja Väänänen / YleElla's case first came to light when Yle's verification team interviewed her for an article (in Finnish) in March this year on the hidden threat posed by deepfake imagery."We're talking about an epidemic"Speaking to Yle News' All Points North podcast, Yle investigative journalist Johanna Vehkoo said that Finland is facing an "epidemic" of deepfake imagery."It's happening in schools. It's happening in workplaces, as I've just described. It's happening to well-known women, and it's happening to women who are not that well-known at all. It's happening to children. And it's happening in the army."Vehkoo called on tech giants such as Apple and Google to 'deplatform' the websites and apps that facilitate the creation and distribution of deepfake imagery."They shouldn't be selling these apps on their app stores. But they are selling them. They're making money. They're profiting off this abuse," she noted.She further added that Finnish society needs to wake up to the threat deepfake imagery poses to women and young girls."I'm pretty sure that most people don't even know that it's happening and that it's illegal," she said. "It's just so prolific and it's happening all the time, and it just needs to be stopped."Yle journalist Johanna Vehkoo joined Ronan Browne in the APN studio to discuss the troubling trend of deepfake imagery in Finland. You can watch the full episode from the video below, on Yle Areena or on our YouTube channel.The All Points North podcast on video.More disturbing casesAlthough there had been high-profile cases involving deepfake images in other parts of the world, Ella was one of the first people in Finland to speak publicly about the effect the misuse of the technology can have on victims.Since then, many more disturbing cases have emerged.In March this year, Yle revealed that one website contained over 1,500 sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of well-known Finnish women, including Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns) and Green Party leader Sofia Virta as well as athletes, musicians and actors.The investigation uncovered the extent and scale of the problem, as one contributor to the website boasted to Yle that it is possible to create up to 200 deepfake pornographic images a day.The above illustration does not contain images from deepfake websites or images of real people.Yle's investigative team used a fake profile to communicate with the website's Finnish users, but were not able to identify them.Under current Finnish law, the distribution of deepfake images is illegal, but creating them is not — unless the subject in the image is under 18 years old. This means there is very little deterrent to stop these users from creating deepfake images."LOL the worst that can happen is that some images get removed," one of the deepfake image creators wrote to Yle.The ease of creating these deepfake images, and the lack of deterrent from doing so, is reflected in the number of cases that are slowly coming to light.In June, Yle reported (in Finnish) that deepfake images of four women conscripts attached to the Kainuu Brigade had been spread by their male counterparts.One of the victims described the experience as "humiliating and deeply offensive".The images were shared in a WhatsApp group containing more than 30 conscripts."It's just unbelievable that you can turn against a friend like this. Even those silent witnesses who just saw the images but didn't distribute them had plenty of time to come tell us about it," another said.The case ended up in the Kainuu district court, where four male conscripts were fined after being found guilty on the charge of distributing sexual images.Yle's investigative team also tracked down a man who allegedly manipulated photos of his female friends, relatives and co-workers, as well as evidence that a young boy created nude images of dozens of underage girls."We're in danger of this becoming normalised," Yle investigative journalist Johanna Vehkoo told the APN podcast. "And I think we can't let something like this just go on without a proper discussion and proper action."