Parents warned against sharing children's images publicly as AI-generated abuse material surges 14%

Parents warned not to publicly share children's images amid AI abuse risks

Parents should not publicly post images of their children online due to the growth of AI-generated abuse imagery, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned. Along with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), it said there is a growing threat of children's images online being used to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM). More than 8,000 AI-generated images and videos of realistic child sexual abuse were identified by the IWF in 2025, it said - adding this was a 14% increase on the year before. "While we and policing colleagues tackle offenders, prevention remains vital," said Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA. In partnership with the IWF, the organisation has released fresh guidance for parents outlining steps they can take to help keep their children safe online. It says parents should review their privacy settings or make a "close friends" group for parents keen to share images "AI is becoming a part of everyday life," the guidance states. "Whilst it has many benefits, it can also be misused - including by those who use it to make, manipulate and share nude, semi-nude or sexual images and videos of children." The IWF said its analysts had identified 13 AI-generated videos of child sexual abuse in 2024 - but in 2025 this number had increased to 3,440. This imagery is considered CSAM in the UK. The government has sought to tackle AI abuse threats to children, in particular young girls, by banning so-called "nudification" apps and tweaking laws to help AI firms make sure their systems cannot be used to produce CSAM. The NCA and IWF said the guidance aims to support parents in understanding the particular threats about CSAM and the increasing role AI is playing in it. "Hearing about this as a parent or carer can feel alarming, but you are not alone," it says. "It's important to know there are steps you can take, many of which you may already be doing, to help better protect your child." The guidance points to three main things parents and guardians do: * Review privacy settings - use privacy controls located in most social apps under Settings to limit visibility of posts, or make an account private * Check social media accounts - look over content already shared by parents or family to make sure identifying details that could expose a child, such as their face or school uniform, cannot be seen, or if an image should be deleted * Revisit image consent - check in with friends, family and even places attended by your child, like schools or clubs, about images being taken of them or used, or review signed consent forms. It adds that may be helpful for parents to include children in discussions about how and where their image is taken or shared - especially in helping them feel more comfortable in saying no. The advice follows years of warnings from child safety experts and organisations about the risks of so-called "sharenting". The term, added to the Collins English Dictionary in 2016, is used to describe the act of parents sharing images or videos of their child on social media. Experts have said that doing so can expose children to unforeseen risks such as identity theft, fraud or impede their privacy as they grow up. But the increased availability and capability of AI tools which can be used to manipulate imagery - including to make it look like a person's clothing has been removed - has now become an added concern. "We don't want to say don't share your children's images with the people you love and trust, but we want everyone to be aware of the potential risks and make an informed decision with the full facts at their disposal," said IWF boss Kerry Smith. "These are not hypothetical threats, they are real." Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

AI prey: why watchdogs are telling parents to protect children from nudification apps

As imaging tools become more sophisticated, online predators are using images of children to make extreme pornography The two photos started out as typical teenage selfies: looking into the mirror, fully clothed. But once online predators had got hold of those pictures and ran them through an AI imaging tool, they had become the basis for extreme pornography videos. These examples come from the Report Remove service, which allows children who have had explicit pictures of themselves distributed without their consent to flag the image confidentially and have it blocked or taken down from social media. Due to breakthroughs in AI, and the wide availability of AI models and nudification apps, some under-18s are becoming victims without even being in contact with criminals. These two victims show why the UK's National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation, a child safety watchdog, have issued guidance telling parents to consider limiting visibility of family pictures by, for instance, making your social media profile private and just sharing photos of your children on "close friends" groups. Both organisations say they are not telling parents what to do but want them to be aware of the problem and what action to take. The data shows AI is an increasing source of child sexual abuse material. The amount of AI-generated child sexual abuse material [CSAM] found online rose by 14% last year, according to the IWF, which identified 8,029 AI-made images and videos of realistic CSAM in 2025. Dan Sexton, the IWF's chief technology officer, says he feels "very uncomfortable" about telling parents not to put pictures of their children on public display but feels he has no other option. There is not enough protection against this technology, he says. The UK government is bringing in restrictions, such as making it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material. It is also giving tech companies and child protection agencies the power to test whether artificial intelligence tools can produce child abuse images. Sexton acknowledges the long-term solution cannot be banishing photos from public social media accounts. He wants legislation for AI models that requires them to be "safe by design", a principle voiced by online safety campaigners who want social media platforms to be built responsibly with user wellbeing as a core aim. "People use the term safety by design but I am not seeing that here," he says. The department for science, innovation and technology has been approached for comment. Sexton says paedophiles are using a variety of AI tools in combination to create images and videos, including "open source" AI models that can be freely downloaded and adjusted by users. The IWF says that already it is proving impossible to distinguish between real photos of child sexual abuse and AI-generated material. Such content is also illegal in the UK but it means authorities can struggle to distinguish between victims who are in real-life danger and deepfakes. AI videos can still be distinguished from reality by IWF analysts, says Sexton, but generally the only way to be sure is seeing if paedophiles are taking credit for specific images on the dark web. "The only way we know is when we see the creators pointing out what they have created," he says, adding that being able to discern AI from reality might be an ongoing struggle. "It's a problem that needs to be solved. But I don't know if it can be solved to the level of accuracy that we need because the technology keeps on changing," he says. A child sexual abuse education manager at the NCA, Lorna Sinclair, says the agency's new guidance is trying to flag a danger that many parents and carers do not know exists. Offenders, however, are repeating an all-too familiar trait of jumping on technological changes first. "We are still learning about AI as a society and how it is used in every day life," she says. "We are learning about the benefits but also about how this technology can be abused. The reality is that offenders will always be early adopters of technological advances."

UK parents warned over posting images of children amid AI sexual abuse fears

Exclusive: National Crime Agency and safety watchdog issue guidance amid rise in explicit material online The UK National Crime Agency has recommended parents should not put photos of their children on public display online as part of landmark guidance to tackle the rise of AI-generated sexual abuse material. Advice issued by the NCA and the child safety watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation suggests parents and guardians make their social media accounts private or share pictures of their children through a "close friends" group. The NCA and IWF stressed they were not telling parents how to behave online, but said they should be aware of the problem and how to tackle it. The guidance also recommends auditing social media accounts for old pictures that could be used by predators and revisiting photo consent agreements - for instance with schools or sports clubs - that could have been signed a few years ago before breakthroughs in AI made image manipulation possible. "We encourage parents and carers to take a few simple steps today," said Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA. The guidance sets out a trio of actions: checking privacy settings on social media accounts; reviewing who can see images of their children; and having open discussions about giving permission for people and organisations to publish images of kids online. The NCA said most parents and carers would not be aware that advances in the technology had given criminals publicly available tools to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM) without needing to contact - or "groom" - victims directly. "The average parent or carer does not post a picture of a child online thinking that it might be scraped to be turned into CSAM," said Lorna Sinclair, a child sexual abuse education manager at the NCA. "There are lots of parents and carers who do not know that this problem exists." The amount of AI-generated child sexual abuse material found online rose by 14% last year, according to the IWF, which identified 8,029 AI-made images and videos of realistic CSAM in 2025. The IWF, which monitors CSAM incidents and runs a reporting hotline, has been contacted by under-18s who have been blackmailed by extortionists after their images were nudified by AI. A confidential service for removing explicit images of under-18s taken without their consent, called Report Remove, has also reported examples of image manipulation involving normal, fully-clothed selfies being converted into extreme pornography via AI. In another case heard by the Childline service, a 15-year-old girl said a stranger had made a "really convincing" fake nude of her that used her face and bedroom, having apparently taken the source material from her Instagram account. Publication of the guidance also follows cases where UK school websites were targeted by blackmailers who scraped pictures of children, used AI tools to convert them into child sexual abuse material, and then threatened to publish the results. A UK advisory body on tackling online harms, the early warning working group (EWWG), whose members include the NCA and IWF, has recommended schools remove identifiable pictures of pupils' faces from their websites and social media accounts. Dan Sexton, the IWF's chief technology officer, said he was "very uncomfortable" about telling parents not to put pictures of children on public display but felt there was no other option. "I don't know what else to say to parents," he said. "I would be very cautious [about putting pictures of children online] because there is no protection." The NCA and IWF guidance states: "If you'd like to share photos of your child online, we suggest creating a 'close friends' group or limiting visibility so only selected people can see them." Children's charity the NSPCC also recommends that under-18s keep their social media accounts on a private setting. Videos released as part of the guidance show fictional scenarios of parents taking photos of their children in everyday circumstances, such as playing sport or standing at the school gates, and being reminded about the risks of sharing photos online. The NCA and IWF say they want to encourage parents and children to say "no" to sharing photos online if they are uncomfortable about it. The guidance on carrying out a social media audit include users checking their own social media accounts to gauge whether their child's "face, body or school uniform" can be seen, whether they are comfortable with the image still being online and whether it can be deleted or made private. It also recommends checking whether friends or family have uploaded images of a parent's child, including historic posts and discussing "clearly and calmly" what action could be taken with those posts. The guidance also recommends reviewing consent forms signed by parents at school, nursery or clubs giving permission to use their child's image, and considering whether they want to withdraw that consent. The IWF's head of marketing, Tom Dyson, said: "If you want a photograph of your children to be taken off a website or social media you are perfectly able to do that."