The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)

X restores Taylor Swift searches after deepfake explicit images triggered temporary block

LONDON >> Elon Musk’s social media platform X has restored searches for Taylor Swift after temporaril­y blocking users from seeing some results as pornograph­ic deepfake images of the singer circulated online.

Searches for the singer’s name on the site Tuesday turned up a list of tweets as normal.

A day earlier, the same search resulted in an error message and a prompt for users to retry their search, which added, “Don’t fret — it’s not your fault.” Users, however, had been able to get around the block by putting quote marks around her name.

Sexually explicit and abusive fake images of Swift began circulatin­g widely last week on X, formerly known as Twitter, making her the most famous victim of a scourge that tech platforms and anti-abuse groups have struggled to fix.

Branford Marsalis to become artistic director at New Orleans center named for his father

NEW ORLEANS >> Branford Marsalis, the jazz saxophonis­t and composer whose career includes movie scores, Grammy-winning recordings and a stint as the leader of “The Tonight Show” band, is taking on a new job in his hometown of New Orleans.

Marsalis was to be named Tuesday as the new artistic director for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. The center is named for Branford’s late father, patriarch of a family of accomplish­ed New Orleans musicians that also includes trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, Branford’s brother.

The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music provides music and cultural education programs for young people and adults. It is part of the Musicians’ Village, a housing developmen­t built in cooperatio­n with Habitat for Humanity.

Branford Marsalis and fellow New Orleans musician Harry Connick Jr. spearheade­d its developmen­t to provide housing for New Orleans musicians who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.