It was one of the most infamous sex tape leaks of the early internet age.
A 19-year-old Paris Hilton was betrayed by a much older boyfriend who published their intimate video online without consent.
"People called it a scandal," Hilton, now 44, recounted for reporters and a bipartisan group of politicians outside the US Capitol in Washington DC.
"It wasn’t. It was abuse.
"There were no laws at the time to protect me. There weren't even words for what had been done to me.
"The internet was still new and so was the cruelty that came with it.
"They called me names, they laughed and made me the punchline.
"They sold my pain for clicks and then they told me to be quiet, to move on, to even be grateful for the attention."
A quarter of a century later, online cruelty and the technology that fuels it have evolved in terrifying ways.
Cameras are no longer needed to perpetrate image-based abuse. Artificial intelligence is now easily harnessed to create fake pornography of real-life women.
An analysis published by the New York Times estimated one AI program, Grok, recently publicly shared at least 1.8 million sexualised images of women in just nine days.
Separate research by an advocacy group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, estimates the number is closer to three million – including 23,000 images depicting children.
The chatbot, owned by Elon Musk, tightened restrictions on January 8, slowing the flood of explicit deepfakes – but many other programs exist and new ones are being created all the time.
Around the world, legislation and enforcement efforts are struggling to keep up. In Australia, deepfake image-based abuse is happening in schools every week, according to eSafety Commissioner data released in October.
Like countless other girls and women, Hilton is now a constant victim.
"I know today that there are over 100,000 explicit deepfake images of me made by AI," she said.
"Not one of them is real, not one of them is consensual. And each time a new one appears, that horrible feeling returns, that fear that someone somewhere is looking at it right now and thinking it's real."
Party girl to politics
Hilton has travelled to Washington to put her famous name behind a proposed law to fight what she calls an "epidemic" of deepfakes.
The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act – or DEFIANCE Act – would make it easier for victims to sue the creators of deepfake pornography.
The bill passed the US Senate unanimously last week and has bipartisan backing in the House of Representatives.
Its chief supporters include Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Laurel Lee. Ms Ocasio-Cortez said there were positive signs that the House's Republican leadership would allow a vote.
But even if it passes, it has some obvious limitations. Wily deepfake creators can easily cover their tracks. And in any case, the legislation would only apply in the United States for what is a worldwide problem.
But Hilton's celebrity is adding weight to a broader global push to tackle the problem.
Asked by the ABC if she planned to take her fight beyond Washington, Hilton said the American laws were the "first step".
"Obviously, this is happening all around the world," she said.
"And I want to help everyone around the world as much as I can — so, yes."
Hotel heiress Hilton found celebrity in the early 2000s as a paparazzi-hounded socialite and, later, reality TV star. She leaned into a bimbo persona and was commonly derided as "famous for being famous".
In recent years, she has effectively channelled her fame into advocacy for anti-abuse causes.
In 2022, she met officials in the Biden White House to push for legal protections for institutionalised minors.
She later testified to Congress about her experiences in youth treatment centres, where she said she was "force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff".
In late 2024, she returned to Capitol Hill to watch Congress pass the protections she lobbied for. Asked at the time if she would ever run for public office herself, she said: "I can maybe see that happening."
Asked the same question at Thursday's press conference, she said she was "just happy to be here to support" the cause.
"Coming here to the Capitol and to DC and doing my advocacy work has truly been the most meaningful work of my life," Hilton said.
