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In a concerning trend, children in the United Kingdom are increasingly reporting explicit deepfake images featuring their likenesses, highlighting a troubling intersection of technology and child safety. The Report Remove service, which enables the flagging of intimate images, has documented over 420 such reports in just the first half of this year, surpassing the total for all of 2025. This alarming rise has prompted warnings from safety watchdogs about the dangers posed by readily available AI tools that facilitate the creation of sexualised content.
The Growing Threat of Deepfakes
The Report Remove service, operated in partnership with the NSPCC, offers a crucial platform for children to anonymously report instances where their images have been manipulated or digitally altered. Dan Sexton, the chief technology officer at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), noted that the current figures underscore the escalating challenge of preventing the misuse of online images. He emphasised that the proliferation of AI capabilities has made it increasingly easy for malicious actors to transform innocent images into harmful content.
In the first six months of 2026, the number of reports from children alleging that their images have been deepfaked reached 420, a significant increase from previous years. In contrast, in all of 2025, there were only 397 reports. Sexton expressed concern that the ability to manipulate benign images could lead to severe consequences, stating, “If someone can take a benign image of a child from the internet and create child sexual abuse material with it, there is nothing that child can do to stop it from happening.”
Technology’s Role in Child Exploitation
The rise of AI-generated deepfakes has raised serious questions about accountability in the tech industry. Sexton pointed out that the potential for AI to enhance the capabilities of malicious actors is a significant concern. “This is one of the harms we were worried about when we first saw AI image generators being used,” he explained. The issue is compounded by the fact that many of the reports received by Report Remove meet the threshold for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), which is illegal in the UK.
Rani Govender, an online safety expert at the NSPCC, echoed the urgency of the situation, calling on technology companies to implement stronger safeguards in their AI products. “Tech companies cannot keep pushing out AI products without embedding strong protections that prevent this material from being created in the first place,” she warned. This sentiment reflects a growing consensus that the tech industry must take proactive steps to mitigate the risks associated with their innovations.
The Dark Side of Sextortion
In addition to the creation of deepfake content, Sexton highlighted the alarming trend of sextortion, whereby victims are threatened with the release of manipulated images unless they comply with demands for payment or further explicit content. This has become a disturbing tactic employed by some individuals seeking to exploit children and young adults online.
The Report Remove service acts as a vital resource for those targeted by such harassment. Once a child submits a report, the service generates a digital fingerprint of the flagged image, which can then be shared with major tech platforms to facilitate the removal of the content from the internet. This process is essential for protecting vulnerable individuals from ongoing exploitation.
Preventative Measures and Parental Guidance
In light of these developments, the IWF and the National Crime Agency have issued guidelines urging parents and guardians to exercise caution when sharing images of their children online. They recommend that social media accounts be set to private and that identifiable images be kept off public platforms. This guidance is particularly pertinent given recent incidents where cybercriminals have blackmailed schools by scraping identifiable images of children and using AI to create CSAM.
The ongoing escalation of deepfake technology presents a unique challenge for child protection advocates, educators, and parents alike. With the capabilities of AI growing more sophisticated, the risk of exploitation continues to rise.
Why it Matters
The surge in reports of deepfake imagery among children is more than a statistical anomaly; it represents a profound shift in the landscape of online safety. As technology evolves, so too do the methods employed by individuals seeking to harm the most vulnerable members of society. The implications extend beyond personal safety, prompting a critical dialogue about the responsibilities of tech companies and the urgent need for robust safety measures. The stakes are high, and it is imperative that all stakeholders—parents, educators, and technology companies—collaborate to safeguard children against the threats posed by digital manipulation and exploitation.