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Brandon “Atrioc” found himself in the middle of a great deal of controversy recently. During a stream on January 26, 2023, the content creator and co-founder of OFFBRAND was caught with a tab on his browser that featured deepfakes of popular streamers. The link in question featured popular and well-known creators such as Maya Higa, Pokimane, QTCinderella, and many more.
It led to a significant amount of backlash aimed at Atrioc, who remained at the center of the controversy for several more days. It was then followed by an apology which also featured his wife sitting in, and the streamer ultimately stepping down from his responsibilities so he could focus on combating the deepfake-pornography epidemic.
From beginning to end, here is what took place surrounding Twitch streamer Atrioc.
The Atrioc deepfake controversy explained
A clip from Atrioc’s January 26, 2023 stream made the rounds shortly after it took place, thanks to the streamer tabbing away from his game. Enterprising viewers quickly noticed the content of his browser, which seemingly contained deepfake pornography.
In particular, viewers noticed it’s a website where people have to pay to view deepfakes of well-known streamers such as Pokimane and QTCinderella. At first, Atrioc made no mention of the tab, until it caught fire on the internet. Others, like Valkyrae, brought up the deepfake controversy the very next day.
Streamers and fans alike found themselves disgusted by the revelation about Atrioc. In particular, QTCinderella took to the internet to speak her mind. The streamer broke down after seeing that deepfakes exist in the first place, but also being in Atrioc’s livestream. She also stated that she had all intentions of suing the person who created it.
(Clip begins at 00:00:24)
"I wanted to go live because this is what pain looks like. This is what it looks like! Okay? This is what it looks like. F**k the f***king internet. F**k the constant exploitation and objectification of women, it's exhausting. It's exhausting!"
She further condemned Atrioc for "showing" the website to his audience:
"F**k Atrioc for showing it to thousands of people. F**k the people DMing me pictures of myself from that website. F**k you all! This is what it looks like. This is what the pain looks like. Okay?"
QTCinderella’s boyfriend, Ludwig clarified that he didn’t want to be seen as defending Atrioc, but hoped that this one major screwup from the streamer was enough to set him on the right path.
"I think he f**ked up but sometimes, like, that's enough. One f**k up is enough. I just hope, from here, he just takes all the steps, all the actions to make it better."
In HasanAbi’s clip, he specifically mentioned Atroic’s deepfakes being “weird and gross,” but also mentioned Ethan Klein. The content creator mocked deepfakes, and specifically, QTCinderella’s reaction to the situation. He has, however, apologized for his actions since then.
“Ethan did something, very wrong, Atrioc did something very f**king weird and gross, both are indefensible. You know? There’s no perspective I have on this, and also, the website should be shut down, and in general, deepfakes should not exist.”
Deepfakes aren’t a new phenomenon on the internet, but having such a popular streamer openly display them, even if by accident, became a viral talking point across the web. Many condemned him for spending his money to view deepfakes of other streamers, many of whom were likely friends with the Twitch streamer beforehand.
The apology and aftermath of the deepfake controversy
(Clip starts at 3:30)
On January 30, 2023, Atrioc took to Twitch again, with his wife sitting beside him. It was a 14-minute stream, where he condemned the deepfakes, calling it both “disgusting and wrong”.
The streamer talked about how he didn’t tolerate this sort of behavior from his audience and didn’t make insensitive jokes about women. He stated he wanted women to feel safer on Twitch.
"At 2 am, you know, I've been watching so much f***king... I've been reading so much f***king AI stuff. I've been reading all this f***king stuff about AI and f***king... deepfake music, deepfake art, and everything. And I'm in these Discords."
The streamer stated that one night he clicked on ad that took him to the deepfake website in question, saying he was just on a regular adult video website. However, the ads for deepfakes were on every video he saw, and ultimately he found himself there. This all came, the streamer stated, from an interest in AI art and music, and that likely led to him seeing so many ads for it on the adult website.
"It's gross and I'm sorry. I really am. I really f***king am."
Atrioc apologized, ending the stream, and later posted a further apology on Twitter. Through the Twitlonger, he apologized to the women that were harmed by the deepfakes, such as Maya Higa and Pokimane.
“First and foremost I want to specifically apologize to Maya and Pokimane. You were both in the screenshot that spread around the internet. Your names were dragged into it and you were sexualized against your will."
He further added:
"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.”
The streamer added that he was just another man on the list of people who had sexualized them against their will, and planned on taking concrete action to douse the “wildfire” his actions started.
According to Atrioc, the website was taken down, alongside QT and Ryan Morrison’s law firm. The content creator also said he would cover the financial cost of that takedown, and any legal fees for the women affected by the deepfake website.
With that in mind, the streamer also stepped down from OFFBRAND to focus on fighting the spread of deepfakes across the internet. He also had a message for anyone that tried to support him or say that what he did wasn’t wrong.
“Lastly, to anyone who has expressed the sentiment of "support" that what I did wasn't wrong, or that I shouldn't apologize- F**k you. Sincerely. I do not want your support, I do not stand with you.”
Atrioc updates the community about the deepfake situation, claims to have taken down numerous websites
Following the controversy, the former Twitch executive went live for the first time on March 15, 2023. In a brief 20-minute broadcast, Brandon revealed that he had been working with a company and had successfully taken down numerous deepfake websites.
Atrioc mentioned reconnecting with QTCinderella and claimed that the latter was "super happy" after they shut down 700 websites in a single day:
"We run the test with QT(Cinderella), and it goes even better! We literally get, like, 700 things taken down in a day. Like, just, night and day. Like, way, way, way more stuff taken down. So QT is really impressed. Like, she's super happy. And we start talking again. Which is awesome!"
Timestamp: 00:09:55
The 32-year-old also revealed how the bot was able to take down explicit websites:
"I think that this bot is incredibly useful because the vast majority of what you need to get done, is just takedowns. DMCA requests because it delists from Google. What the real value here, is that, like, even if the website refuses to comply, you can get it delisted from Google, which for the majority of these women, I think that they are aware, even more aware than I was. Because I was kind of naive. That like... the internet is a sad place, right?"
Reactions to Atrioc's apology
His apology was met with mixed responses, however. Quite a few people refused to accept it, and labeled him part of the problem as he had spent money on these deepfakes. Others, however, appreciated that he put effort into helping take the website down.
On March 25, 2023, Atrioc provided another update to the community, revealing that he was able to perform 21,092 DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedowns and that 13,090 websites had been delisted from Google.
A few months later, Atrioc addressed the situation again. He released a video where he discussed helping take down 200,000 Deepfake listings, which you can read more about here.
