Atrioc steps down over explicit deepfake scandal, wants to cover legal fees for victims

Website in question has already been taken down
Atrioc steps down over explicit deepfake scandal, wants to cover legal fees for victims
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.


Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg