Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (Garante Privacy) — Clothoff app

Decided by

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali

Parties

Garante per la protezione dei dati personali v. Clothoff app

Decision date

October 1, 2025

Remedy

The Garante ordered an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of personal data of Italian users against the British Virgin Islands-based company managing the Clothoff app.

Appeal

Appeal status not stated

Key holdings

1. The Garante ordered an urgent, immediate temporary limitation on processing Italian users' personal data against the company operating Clothoff.

   “ha disposto, in via d’urgenza e con effetto immediato, la limitazione provvisoria del trattamento dei dati personali degli utenti italiani nei confronti di una società” — Deepfake, Garante: stop a Clothoff, l’app che spoglia le persone, paragraph 1

2. The Clothoff application permits users, including minors, to generate deep nude content without consent verification or artificial generation labels.

   “L’applicazione consente a chiunque – inclusi i minorenni – di creare fotografie e realizzare video partendo da immagini, anche ritraenti minori, in assenza di qualsiasi accorgimento” — Deepfake, Garante: stop a Clothoff, l’app che spoglia le persone, paragraph 3

3. The temporary ban was imposed due to severe risks to fundamental rights, human dignity, privacy, and personal data protection, especially regarding minors.

   “Il blocco del Garante, che comunque ha avviato un’attività di indagine finalizzata a contrastare tutte le app di nudificazione, si è reso necessario a causa degli elevati rischi” — Deepfake, Garante: stop a Clothoff, l’app che spoglia le persone, paragraph 4

In plain English

The Italian Data Protection Authority issued an urgent order imposing an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of personal data of Italian users by the British Virgin Islands-based company operating the Clothoff application. Clothoff provides a generative artificial intelligence service that enables users to generate deep nude images, producing fake photos and videos depicting real individuals in nude, sexually explicit, or pornographic poses. The Authority highlighted that the app allows anyone, including minors, to create such content using images of real people, including children, without any mechanism to verify the subject's consent or indicate that the resulting material is artificially generated. The Garante found that the service creates severe risks to fundamental rights and freedoms, specifically threatening human dignity, personal privacy, and data protection rights, especially when involving minors. Additionally, the regulator noted growing social alarm stemming from media reports regarding the misuse of such manipulated images. As a result, the Garante blocked the processing of Italian users' personal data and launched a broader investigation targeting all nudifying applications.