03/01/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AmiChmAsV/
Parents & kids - protect your social accounts from strangers. Scammers and abusers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to create and share sexually explicit images of children, sometimes by “nudifying” photos found on social media. The Internet Watch Foundation has warned this is a serious and growing problem. Their first October 2023 study found over 20,000 AI-generated images on a dark-web forum in one month, with more than 3,000 depicting criminal child sexual abuse.
A recent local case shows how real this threat is: a Barnes County (North Dakota) man admitted he used AI to create n**e photos and videos of teenage girls from images he took off their Instagram accounts and was sentenced for possessing CSAM. https://ow.ly/YYPP50YmATv
Quick steps parents & kids can take right now:
• Make accounts private and regularly review your followers/friends. Don’t accept requests from strangers.
• Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) and use unique, strong passwords.
• Disable location tagging/geotags on posts and photos.
• Limit what you share: avoid full-name + school + routine + home photos in public posts. Treat profile photos and school-uniform pics as sensitive.
• Teach kids never to DM or share images with people they don’t know. Screenshots can be manipulated or used to create fake/AI images.
• If someone asks for sexual images or tries to coerce a child - block, preserve screenshots, and report to the platform and local authorities immediately.
• Check privacy settings on apps used by your kids (review them together) and keep apps/OS updated.
Why this matters: AI tools are making fake-but-realistic sexual images easier to create and spread, overwhelming safety systems and retraumatizing victims. Experts and news outlets are raising alarms and urging stronger detection and legal action.
If you see suspicious activity or think a child’s image has been used, report it to the platform, your local police, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Share this post to help parents and kids in your community stay safer.
