Fight the New Drug is an awareness organization educating about the harms of pornography on individuals, relationships, and society. We share research, facts, and personal accounts to help promote understanding for various aspects of this multi-faceted issue. Our goal is to maintain an environment where all individuals can have healthy and productive conversations about this issue, while acknowledging that this issue can impact any person or relationship differently.
A Note to Readers: At Fight the New Drug, our goal is to provide research, resources, and conversation starters that can help families navigate today's digital landscape. We recognize that every family is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting. We encourage parents and caregivers to thoughtfully consider the information in this article and adapt it in ways that best support their family's needs, values, and goals. This article is not a substitute for professional legal, medical, mental health, or educational guidance. Please consult qualified professionals to determine the best course of action for their specific circumstances.
Artificial intelligence is changing the internet faster than most families, schools, and laws can keep up. For many parents, “deepfake” still sounds like something from a futuristic crime show: a fake celebrity video, a political hoax, or a scam that targets adults. But for today’s kids and teens, AI-generated deepfakes are already appearing in group chats, classrooms, dating apps, gaming communities, social media feeds, and school hallways.
And increasingly, the target is sexual exploitation.
Deepfake technology can now take an ordinary photo from Instagram, TikTok, a school website, a sports roster, a yearbook, a FaceTime screenshot, or a family post and use it to create a very realistic-looking sexual image or video of a real person. These images are not “just fake.” They can be a form of image-based sexual abuse, harassment, bullying, blackmail, and in many cases, child sexual abuse material, aka “child pornography.”
And they’re being created and shared everywhere.
We aren’t trying to panic parents, but we do need to understand the scale of the problem, talk to kids before a crisis happens, and create a safety plan for what to do if their child is targeted, pressured, or pressured to participate.
What is an AI deepfake?
A deepfake is synthetic media—an image, video, or audio clip generated or altered by artificial intelligence to make it look or sound like someone did or said something they never did.
In Trent Ray’s Cyber Safety Project guide, deepfakes are described as synthetic media where a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else’s likeness, and the guide specifically warns that malicious uses can include misinformation, scams, cyberbullying, image-based abuse, and child sexual abuse material.
For kids, one of the most dangerous categories is the “deepfake nude” or “nudification” image.
A user can utilize free tools and take a clothed photo or video of a real person and generate a sexualized or nude-looking version. Thorn’s report, Deepfake Nudes & Young People: Navigating a New Frontier in Technology-facilitated Nonconsensual Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, explains that deepfake nudes are an evolution of image-based sexual abuse because generative AI allows realistic sexualized images to be created quickly, at scale, and with minimal technical skill.
Deepfake creation is easy, and anyone can do it. It doesn’t require any advanced software or technical expertise. And the images are virtually indistinguishable from real ones.
Today, many tools are easy to find, easy to use, and intentionally designed to remove friction and clothing. In Thorn’s report, young people who created deepfake nudes described easy access to the tools. They learned about them through social media, search engines, or direct links.
Why are AI deepfakes any different from old-school photo editing?
Parents may wonder, “Haven’t people always been able to Photoshop images?” Yes, but AI changes the danger in four major ways: speed, realism, accessibility, and scale.
First, AI tools can create sexualized images in seconds or minutes. Second, the images can look realistic enough that peers, strangers, or even school communities may believe they are real. Third, users do not need advanced editing skills. Fourth, once an image is shared, it can spread through screenshots, group chats, private messages, anonymous accounts, and websites long after the original post is removed. This is more than a photoshopped image taped to a locker.
Molly McGinn’s Verizon article, AI deepfakes and your kid’s digital footprint: What parents should know explains that every photo or video posted online adds to a child’s digital footprint, and that AI can use ordinary public images to create deepfakes that may continue circulating online and affect a child for years.
That is why she says saying “my child would never send a nude” is no longer enough protection. A child can become the target of a sexualized image without ever taking, sending, or consenting to any sexual image at all. Let that sink in.
Generative AI changes the dynamic because anyone can be targeted regardless of their consent, prior behavior, or knowledge.
And yes, it’s scary.
The scale of the problem is bigger than many parents realize
This is not a fringe issue affecting only a few high-profile celebrities, politicians or isolated schools.
Research suggests that a significant number of young people already know about deepfake nudes, know someone who has been targeted, or have encountered the tools themselves.
One survey of 557 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 found that 55.3% of teens reported creating at least one image with nudification tools, 54.4% reported receiving at least one such image, 36.3% reported that a nonconsensual image had been created of them, and 33.2% reported that at least one nonconsensual image had been shared. Chad M. S. Steel’s peer-reviewed article, Prevalence of generative artificial intelligence sexualized image usage by adolescents in the United States (Steel, C. M. S., 2026, PLOS One, 21(3), e0342824, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0342824Copy
Those numbers are alarming and only show a piece of the picture.
The findings point to a reality parents cannot ignore: many teens are already navigating AI sexualized images, and many are doing so without enough adult guidance and support.
Thorn’s report, Deepfake Nudes & Young People (Thorn, 2025, March 3), surveyed 1,200 young people ages 13 to 20 and found that 41% had heard of deepfake nudes, nearly one in three teens had heard the term, one in eight young people knew someone who had been targeted while under 18, and one in 17 teens reported that deepfake nudes had been created of them.
Schools are seeing it too.
A Center for Democracy & Technology survey found that 40% of students and 29% of teachers were aware of a deepfake of someone at their school being shared during the previous school year, while 15% of students and 11% of teachers were aware of intimate or sexually explicit deepfakes connected to their school community.
Why deepfake nudes are harmful, even when they are “fake”
One of the most dangerous myths about deepfake sexual images is that they are not “real,” so they do not cause real harm.
That is completely false.
A deepfake nude may be digitally fabricated, but the target is real. Their face is real. Their reputation is real. Their fear is real. Their school environment is real. Their loss of control is real. Their trauma is real.
Thorn found that 84% of young people surveyed believed deepfake nude content harms the person depicted, with emotional or psychological harm, reputational harm, and the risk that viewers will not recognize the image as fake among the leading concerns.
Victims can experience distress, anxiety, depression, humiliation, helplessness, and symptoms associated with trauma, along with social consequences such as damaged friendships, reputational harm, fear of showing up online, and difficulty attending school.
Another study notes that victims of sexualized AI images can experience hypervigilance, avoidance, powerlessness, dehumanization, and permanent life disruptions.
Parents also need to understand the legal seriousness.
Under U.S. federal law, the production, viewing, or distribution of pornographic generative AI images of minors can be illegal, even when the image is AI-generated. Kids today might create a deepfake out of curiosity, sexual gratification, revenge, or simply because they were dared to.
But what they’re creating is illegal, life-shattering, and they need to know that.
“It was fake” does not mean “it was harmless.” And “it was a joke” does not mean “it was legal.”
True stories show how quickly this can devastate real kids
The headlines are not theoretical. Real teenagers have already been targeted, humiliated, and traumatized. And although statistics can help us understand the scope of the deepfake crisis. Survivor stories help us understand the pain.
In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, dozens of teenage girls discovered that classmates had used AI to create hundreds of fake nude images using photos taken from yearbooks, social media, FaceTime screenshots, and school records. During court proceedings, one victim told the judge that the experience “destroyed my innocence.” Another described “how excruciating it is to bring these feelings up again and again.” A third shared that all of her friends transferred schools and that she “needed trauma therapy to even walk around my neighborhood.” Victims reported anxiety attacks, loss of trust, difficulty focusing in school, and constant fear that the images could reappear at any point in their lives.
Elliston Berry, a Texas high school student targeted by AI-generated explicit images, described the experience as deeply traumatic. Her case became one of the catalysts behind federal efforts to strengthen protections for victims of nonconsensual intimate deepfakes. Like many survivors, she faced the terrifying reality that strangers and classmates could view sexualized images of her that never actually existed.
A recent investigation by WIRED found that nearly 600 students across approximately 90 schools worldwide have already been impacted by AI-generated nude deepfakes. Victims consistently reported feelings of shame, humiliation, anxiety, violation, anxiety attacks, loss of trust, difficulty focusing in school, trauma therapy, friends transferring schools, and fear that the images would follow them for years. For many, the most painful part wasn’t just the image itself—it was knowing that classmates were viewing, sharing, laughing at, and discussing a fabricated sexual version of them.
AI sexual exploitation can happen inside ordinary peer communities. The person misusing the technology may not be an anonymous predator overseas. It may be a classmate, teammate, friend, former friend, ex, or peer in a group chat.
A deepfake image can enter a child’s life suddenly and then follow them into classrooms, friendships, family conversations, mental health struggles, and future fears.
How kids get pulled into creating or sharing deepfake nudes
Some young people create deepfake sexual images out of cruelty. Others do it because of curiosity, peer pressure, revenge, bullying, sexual entitlement, or the false belief that “fake” means “not serious,” or even as a dare.
Thorn’s report found that young people may create deepfake nudes because of curiosity, revenge, pressure, or bullying, and that those who create the images may find the technology through social media, search engines, direct links, or app stores.
That means parents should not assume their child is safe simply because they are a “good kid.”
Good kids can make harmful choices when they are curious, impulsive, trying to impress friends, angry after a breakup, or sitting in a group chat where everyone else is laughing. So it’s imperative that you let them know that creating this type of content is not ok and if it’s sexual in nature and nonconsensual, it’s also illegal.
It also means parents should not assume their child will never be targeted because they are careful.
Verizon’s article AI deepfakes and your kid’s digital footprint: What parents should know explains that a simple public photo can be manipulated with AI and then spread through social media, private chats, or websites.
The danger is not only the technology. It is the culture around it: a culture that can normalize sexualizing people without consent, treating bodies as content, and turning humiliation into entertainment. For parents, the goal is not only to teach technical safety. It is to teach consent, empathy, digital responsibility, and the dignity of every person.
The gendered reality: girls are disproportionately targeted
AI deepfake abuse can happen to anyone. Boys can be targeted. LGBTQ+ youth can be targeted. Adults can be targeted. But research and reporting consistently show that sexually explicit deepfake abuse disproportionately targets women and girls.
Ray’s Cyber Safety Project guide estimates that around 90% of deepfake content is explicit, that pornographic videos make up 98% of deepfake material currently online, and that 99% of that imagery involves women and girls.
Thorn’s report, Deepfake Nudes & Young People (Thorn, 2025, March 3), found that LGBTQ+ teens were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ teens to know someone impacted by deepfake nude experiences, and the report also found that younger teen boys and young adult women reported particularly notable rates of victimization in some categories.
Parents should avoid framing this as “girls need to be careful.” That can turn into victim-blaming. A better message is: everyone deserves digital dignity, nobody is entitled to sexualize another person, and everyone has a responsibility not to create, request, view, save, like, forward, or laugh at abusive content.
The hidden risk in family photos and digital footprints
Parents often post photos of their children out of love and pride: first day of school, dance recitals, sports wins, vacations, birthday parties, beach days, graduation photos, family portraits. But in the AI era, families need to think differently about public images.
McGinn recommends that parents post less, tighten privacy settings, think carefully before using AI photo apps, use avatars or less-identifying images when possible, remove GPS or metadata, and remember that there may be no true delete once an image has been copied or shared.
This does not mean parents can never share family photos. It means parents should treat their child’s image as part of their child’s privacy, not just the parents’ memory. A child’s face, school name, uniform, location, team, and social circle can all become data points.
A practical rule: before posting, ask, “Could this image embarrass my child later, reveal personal information, identify their location, or be misused if copied?” If the answer is yes, do not post it publicly.
What can parents do now?
The most effective response is not one dramatic conversation. It is an ongoing family culture of safety, trust, and accountability.
*Each family is uniquely different. The ideas and suggestions in this article are merely ideas for you to decide what’s best for you and your family.
1. Start the conversation before there is a crisis
A 2026 peer-reviewed study, which surveyed adolescents in the US, found that 55% of kids had created a deepfake nude themselves. The study concludes that education should happen before age 13, because risky engagement with AI sexualized image tools is already widespread among adolescents.
Parents can say:
“AI can make fake sexual pictures of real people. Even if the picture is fake, the harm is real. In our family, we do not create, request, save, share, or laugh at sexual images of anyone. If you ever see one, or if someone makes one of you, you will not be in trouble for telling me. I will help you.”
2. Teach the “never make, never share, always report” rule
It’s important to communicate to kids that they should never create or engage with intimate deepfakes and that even fake images can cause real harm. They can be illegal and ruin someone’s life.
A simple family rule can be:
Never create, ask for, or engage with any deepfake AI images, and always tell a trusted adult.
Make sure they understand what deepfake AI images of this nature are and why sharing, creating, or engaging with them is problematic. Whether they are a participant in creation or a victim, they can talk to you, and you will always help them.
3. Reduce your child’s public image exposure
The less content your child’s content is accessible to the public, the lower the risk. Checking privacy settings, limiting public posts, being cautious with AI image apps, removing location data, and searching for your child’s name or images periodically can help keep your child safe.
Practical steps include keeping children of of social media, limiting accounts to private, limiting followers to people they know offline, avoiding public posts that include school names or uniforms, turning off location tagging, avoiding “AI avatar,” “age me,” “cartoon me,” or “AI art” apps that store or train on uploaded photos, and asking relatives not to post identifiable photos without permission.
There are also various child-focused technologies that can help monitor and regulate a child’s online activity.
4. Talk about consent in non-sexual and sexual contexts
Deepfake abuse is fundamentally a consent issue. Kids need to understand that using someone’s face, body, voice, or identity without permission is not harmless creativity.
In Ray’s Cyber Safety Project guide, it’s encouraged that parents approach AI conversations with curiosity rather than fear and that they build responsibility, integrity, strength to resist peer pressure, and empathy.
Parents can say:
“Consent is not only about physical touch. It also applies to photos, screenshots, edits, AI tools, and jokes. Someone’s image belongs to them.”
5. Make it safe for your child to come to you
One of the biggest reasons kids do not disclose online harm is fear: fear of losing their phone, getting blamed, being punished, or making the situation worse.
In Thorn’s report, they found a gap between what young people think they would do and what victims actually do: while many nonvictims said they would tell a parent or trusted adult, only 34% of victims overall and 48% of teen victims actually did.
Parents can lower that barrier by saying early and often:
“If something scary, sexual, embarrassing, or confusing happens online, you can come to me. I may be upset at the situation, but not at you. We will solve it together.”
Some parents have reported role-playing potential situations to help kids feel more comfortable preparing for them.
6. Prepare kids for peer pressure and bystander moments
A child may never create a deepfake and still be part of the harm if they forward it, laugh at it, ask to see it, save it, or stay silent while a victim is humiliated.
Thorn also found that 65% of youth who created deepfake nudes shared them, including with online-only contacts, peers at school, and in some cases the targeted victim.
Teach your child to change the culture surrounding deepfake nudes and standing up to those who participate.
Have them practice a script they could say,
“That’s not okay. Don’t send that.”
“That could be illegal.”
“Delete it and tell an adult.”
“I’m not being part of this.”
“She/he/they don’t deserve this.”
7. Ask your child’s school what its policy is
Many students, teachers, and parents said schools either don’t have policies or procedures for deepfake incidents or have not shared them.
Parents can ask school leaders:
Does the school policy specifically address AI-generated sexual images?
How does the school preserve evidence without redistributing images?
Who contacts parents, law enforcement, and child protection resources?
How are victims protected from retaliation or humiliation?
How are bystanders handled?
What education is provided?
How does the school avoid punishing victims for being targeted?
If your school is unsure of how to educate its students on the dangers of deepfakes, Fight the New Drug’s live educational presentations educate audiences on the harms of porn, including deepfakes. Get more info below.
8. Know the reporting tools before you need them
For U.S. families, parents should know that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children operates Take It Down, a tool designed to help minors remove or stop the spread of online nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images. Parents should also report threats, sextortion, or sexual exploitation involving minors to appropriate law enforcement or child protection authorities.
Additionally, if images are shared online, platforms in the US have 48 hours to find and remove the content. RAINN is an excellent resource to help you get them taken down.
What to do if your child is targeted by a deepfake nude
The first few minutes matter. Your child will likely remember your reaction for a long time.
Start with this: “I believe you. This is not your fault. We are going to help you.”
Then take these steps.
First, do not blame your child for posting a normal photo, having social media, trusting a friend, or existing online. Responsibility lies with the person who created or shared the abusive image.
Second, do not forward the image to other parents, group chats, or school threads as “proof.” If the image appears to depict a minor sexually, forwarding it can create additional legal and ethical risks. Instead, document where it appeared, usernames, account names, URLs, timestamps, captions, threats, and the names of people involved. When needed, ask law enforcement, an attorney, or a child protection organization how to safely preserve evidence.
Third, report it to the platform immediately. Screenshot evidence and reporting abusive content through platform tools.
Fourth, contact the school if students are involved. Ask for a written safety plan, not just discipline. Your child may need schedule adjustments, adult supervision, counseling support, protection from retaliation, and help returning to class without being forced to carry the emotional burden alone.
Fifth, contact law enforcement, the FBI, and a legal professional, especially if the image involves a minor, threats, extortion, repeated harassment, an adult perpetrator, or distribution across platforms.
Sixth, get mental health support early. Even if your child says they are “fine,” the fear of being watched, mocked, disbelieved, or permanently associated with a fake sexual image can be overwhelming.
What to do if your child created or shared a deepfake nude
This is a painful situation for a parent, but it needs a clear response. Do not minimize it as a prank. Do not focus only on whether your child will get in trouble. Focus first on stopping harm.
You could say something like:
“What happened is serious. A fake sexual image can still deeply hurt someone, and when minors are involved, it can have legal consequences. Our first job is to stop any further harm, cooperate with the right adults, and take responsibility.”
Do not encourage your child to delete everything before you understand legal or school reporting obligations. Do stop any further sharing immediately. Remove access to the tools involved. Contact the school if classmates are involved. Consider legal counsel if explicit images of minors were created, saved, or distributed. Require accountability, but do not use humiliation as discipline. A child who has harmed someone still needs adult guidance, boundaries, consequences, empathy-building, and often counseling.
Many AI sexualized images of minors may constitute child sexual abuse material under U.S. law, making it essential that parents treat creation and sharing as serious rather than as ordinary misbehavior.
How to talk to kids by age
For elementary-age kids, keep it simple:
“Some people use computers or phones to make fake pictures or videos. You should never use someone’s photo in an app without permission. If you ever see a picture like this or one that makes you feel weird, scared, or embarrassed, or different, tell me. I will not be upset. ”
For middle schoolers, be more direct:
“Some AI tools can make fake nude pictures of real kids. That is not funny but serious. It can hurt someone badly and may be illegal. If someone sends you something like that, do not save it, do not send it, and do not comment on it. Come to another trusted adult or me.”
For high schoolers, talk about consent, law, peer pressure, and pornography culture:
“AI makes it easy to sexualize someone without consent. That does not make it okay. It is exploitation. If a group chat is passing around a nude or a fake nude, everyone who saves it, laughs at it, or shares it is helping the abuse continue. You can be the person who stops it. If you see or hear about something like this, come to another trusted adult or me.”
For all ages, you could ask open-ended questions:
Have you heard people at school talk about AI deepfakes?
Do kids think fake sexual images are a joke or a big deal?
What would you do if someone sent one to a group chat?
Who are three adults you could go to if something happened online?
What would make it easier or harder to tell me?
Then listen. The goal is not to deliver one perfect lecture. The goal is to become the safest adult your child can come to when the internet gets dangerous.
What parents should avoid
Do not say, “Just don’t post pictures.” That puts too much responsibility on potential victims and ignores the reality that school photos, team photos, family posts, and screenshots can also be misused.
Do not say, “If you tell me something happened online, I’ll take your phone forever.” That teaches kids to hide problems until they become emergencies.
Do not say, “Why would someone make that of you?” That sounds like blame, even if you do not mean it that way.
Do not investigate by spreading the image. Do not send it to other parents. Do not ask your child to repeatedly explain every humiliating detail. Do not assume the school will handle it well without parent advocacy.
And do not treat this as only a “girls’ issue” or only a “technology issue.” This is a consent issue, a sexual exploitation issue, a bullying issue, a mental health issue, and a culture issue.
The bigger message kids need from parents
The most protective message a child can hear is not merely “be careful online.” It is that their body or anyone’s body is not content, that their image belongs to them. Fake does not mean harmless, and consent matters online and offline.
Always remind them you are there to help them.
AI deepfakes are not going away. The tools will keep changing, and laws, schools, and platforms will keep trying to catch up. But parents do not have to wait for perfect policies to protect their kids.
They can start now by reducing unnecessary digital exposure, teaching consent, setting clear family rules, practicing bystander courage, building trust, and preparing a response plan before a crisis happens.
The internet may be evolving quickly, but the core lesson remains deeply human: people are never objects, images are never “just content” when a real person is being harmed, and every child deserves to know that their dignity is worth defending.
Book a youth presentation at your school
Help your students make educated decisions about pornography. Fight the New Drug’s age-appropriate and engaging presentations highlight research from respected academic institutions that demonstrates the significant impacts of porn consumption on individuals, relationships, and society.
We offer presentations customized for each audience, aligning with our mission as a non-religious and non-legislative organization educating with science, facts, and personal accounts. All of our tailored presentations, whether it’s a school, community, parent, or conference presentation, will provide attendees with comprehensive, age-relevant information about how porn impacts the brain, can harm relationships, affects society as well as how to have healthy conversations about porn, as well as some free resources for further education and recovery.
We empower your students to make educated decisions to better equip them to love themselves, have healthy relationships, and make a positive difference in the world.
What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more and book your middle school or high school presentation today.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
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