Children across the UK have increasingly reported encountering explicit deepfake imagery created from their own likkenesses, prompting concerns from online safety authorities about the accessibility of artificial intelligence tools that facilitate such content creation.
The Report Remove service, which assists in removing intimate images from online platforms, documented 420 reports from minors regarding manipulated or faked explicit imagery during the first six months of this year. This figure has already surpassed the total number of reports received throughout 2025, which stood at 397. The service had previously added a dedicated checkbox to its reporting form to allow users to specifically flag content identified as deepfakes.
Experts at the Internet Watch Foundation and child protection organizations have emphasized the severity of this trend. Officials noted that the majority of reported manipulated images met thresholds for classification as child sexual abuse material, with some victims subsequently targeted for sextortion schemes in which blackmailers threaten to distribute the imagery unless recipients provide payment or additional explicit content. Authorities warned that the combination of readily available AI image manipulation technology and publicly available photographs of children creates significant vulnerability for young people.
In response to the escalating threat, technology companies have faced calls to implement stronger protective measures within their artificial intelligence products. Safety experts have urged platforms to embed safeguards designed to prevent the creation of such material at the source rather than relying solely on removal mechanisms after content has been produced. Additionally, law enforcement and child safety organizations have recommended that parents and guardians limit the visibility of identifying photographs of children on public social media accounts and school websites to reduce the pool of images available for manipulation by bad actors.
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