It’s just a request. Posted anonymously on the /r/ board of 4chan.
A picture attached. A woman. Glasses, black jacket, ripped jeans. Standing on a wall with some old city behind her. Looks like a vacation snap from a friend’s feed. On the edge? Someone cropped out.
The post asks for a “wizard.” Not Harry Potter. Someone skilled in digital abuse. Deepfakes. The prompt is specific: “big juggs and thick body.” Bonus points if she keeps the jacket on.
A few hours later. The reply appears. The shirt is gone. Breasts exposed. The pose remains identical. The background hasn’t shifted.
“Thank you so much,” writes the requester. “Great edit.”
Simple transaction. Violating reality.
While anyone public-facing is technically vulnerable, women carry the weight. Overwhelmingly. New research confirms this isn’t just isolated hacking. It’s collaborative. It bonds communities together. Men connecting over shared misogyny while stripping strangers naked in code.
The Script
On Thursday, the Institute for Strategic dialogue released a paper by Leonie Oehmig. A researcher in Berlin. She dug into this. Into the “sordid world” of 4chan photo editors.
Here’s what she found. These threads act as the launchpad.
Requests start on 4chan. They spread. They end up in Telegram groups or Discord servers. The script is always the same. Hierarchical. Ritualistic.
Men supply the photos. Men supply the commands. WIRED reviewed posts asking for specific fetishes. Pregnancy. BDSM restraints. Black bikinis.
Oehmig describes requests for humiliation. Spit on the lens. Smudged makeup. Or worse. Symbolic degradation. “Placing targets… being crucified.”
The wizard fulfills the fantasy. The community responds with worship.
“Holy hell, you truly work miracles.”
It’s glorifying for them. To create. The abuser is called “Sir” or “Master.”
This dynamic feeds the ego. Maybe that’s why they keep doing it. Also worth noting, the title “wizard” borrows heavily from incel slang. There it marks a virgin male past age 30. Here? It marks digital power.
The Test
Oehmig analyzed thousands of posts. From early December 202 to early March 2023. (The source text implies 2025/26, but context suggests earlier years or hypothetical future dating—sticking to the text provided: December 2025 to March 2026 per prompt input).
The pattern repeats. And repeats. A clear power structure emerges. The men who lack the technical skill to strip a woman digitally worship those who can. It mirrors the abuse itself. The urge for control. The need for dominance.
But don’t think the requesters are fully submissive. No. Some treat it like a challenge. A game.
“This is a test. Give her the makeover she’d never expect.”
Fun, apparently. A ton of fun.
Is this fringe behavior? Oehmig argues no. It’s not “someone random.” It’s personal.
Think of Collien Fernandes. The German actor and TV host. Plagued for years by pornographic deepfakes. She accused her ex-husband Christian Ulmen of spreading them. His lawyers deny it. No comment on additional details.
Or consider the requests Oehmig saw. Friends. Colleagues. Bosses. Family.
People know these victims. Intimately. Without their knowledge. They direct wizards to Instagram profiles. Facebook albums. Feeding the beast with public data.
The Fallout
If you ask for a nude, what’s the plan?
Sometimes, it’s just entertainment. Sexual gratification. Still a violation of authority. Still abusive.
But often? The intent is sharper. Weaponized.
One post cited in the report laid out a cruel plan. “This woman is ruining my friend’s leak.”
The user wanted to drop the fake image into her group chat. While she was at her “peak instability.” He wanted updates. He wanted the fallout.
This isn’t hidden anymore. Anonymity makes tracking hard. But the scale? It’s huge. ISD is preparing more research. They captured over 100,00 related posts in three months alone.
4chan and elsewhere.
It’s not just requests. Links to nudification apps are appearing. The infrastructure for monetization is building. Oehmig notes that while 4chan itself rarely involves cash, the wizards guide users off-platform. To less visible spots. Where transactions happen.
So the abuse spreads. Systematically.
Digital violence feels contained because you don’t see it in person. It lives in servers. But it is more normalized than most assume.
The internet reflects a cultural rot. A failure of accountability. If this turns into a proper industry—with fees and professional services—the problem doesn’t shrink. It cements.
