Sony Music's AI deepfake takedowns nearly double to 260,000 in six months
Sony says fake AI tracks cloning its artists' voices are appearing faster than labels can pull them down, while a federal fix stalls in the Senate.
What happened: Sony Music has asked digital platforms to remove more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks that clone its artists' voices or likenesses without permission, the company confirmed to Billboard in a story first broken by the Financial Times. That's nearly double the roughly 135,000 takedown requests Sony had filed as of March 2026 — meaning the volume of unauthorized AI soundalikes it's catching has roughly doubled in about six months. Sony says the fakes are showing up "at scale" across streaming services, with every fraudulent stream pulling royalty money away from the real performers and songwriters being copied.
Why it matters: This isn't just impersonation for laughs — it moves real money out of artists' pockets and can trick fans into thinking a track is genuine. There's no federal US law stopping anyone from cloning a performer's voice or likeness with AI; protection depends on a patchwork of state rules that vary by where the fake originates. That leaves labels and streaming services to police the problem through a voluntary takedown system, and it's straining to keep up: Deezer alone says over 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks land on its service every day, though only a fraction are deepfakes of specific real artists.
How labels are fighting back: Sony's takedowns are one piece of a wider industry push. Distributors have launched a "Streaming Integrity Initiative" to flag suspect uploads, Spotify says it's purging inauthentic artist profiles, and Universal Music is suing distributor DistroKid — which isn't part of that initiative — over alleged AI "slop" flooding platforms. At the same time, the majors are chasing licensed alternatives: Warner's Suno deal includes download limits, and all three majors now hold stakes in AI music firms like Stability AI and Klay Vision, betting that paid, authorized AI tools will crowd out unlicensed clones.
The rollout: Congress has a bill aimed at the legal gap: the NO FAKES Act would let performers authorize or refuse AI use of their voice and likeness, with carve-outs for news, parody, documentary and sports. It reached the Senate floor last week with near-unanimous backing, but Senator Ted Cruz blocked it alone, citing concerns over satire and political commentary. Until it passes, labels keep relying on voluntary deals and lawsuits — Universal and Sony are both suing AI generator Suno, and Sony, unlike Universal and Warner, still hasn't settled its own case against Udio.