UK Children Report Surge in Explicit Deepfake Images of Themselves

Key points

• Report Remove, the UK's anonymous image-removal service for minors, has recorded a rapid increase in digitally manipulated or AI-generated explicit images involving children.
• AI-powered "nudification" tools, which digitally strip clothing from real photos to create fake naked images, are driving part of the rise.
• The UK's online safety watchdog says these tools have made producing this kind of content faster and cheaper than before.
• No specific enforcement action or new regulation has been announced alongside this warning.

Children across the UK are reporting that explicit fake images of themselves are appearing online, and the service designed to help them take those images down says the numbers are climbing quickly.

Report Remove is a free, anonymous tool run by the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity that works with online platforms to block child sexual abuse material. Young people use it to flag intimate images of themselves without identifying themselves to police or strangers. The service has told The Guardian that a growing share of the images it handles have been digitally manipulated, including through AI tools that generate fake images from scratch, or nudification software that takes an ordinary clothed photo and produces a fake explicit version.

What exactly are these tools doing?

Nudification tools feed a real photograph into an AI system, which then generates an image designed to look like the same person without clothes. The result isn't a real photograph. It's a fabricated image that can still cause serious distress and reputational harm to the person depicted.

This matters legally as well as personally. Under the Online Safety Act 2023, sharing intimate images without consent is a criminal offence in England and Wales, and the law covers digitally generated images as well as real ones. Those provisions came into force in January 2024. Our earlier coverage of Tasmania criminalising AI-generated intimate image sharing on 6 July shows how legislators across common-law countries are converging on the same legal response.

Should children and parents be worried?

Yes, and the concern is practical. These tools are cheap, widely available, and demand no technical skill. A classmate with a social media photo and a free app can produce a fake explicit image in minutes.

If a child believes images of them are circulating online, Report Remove lets them flag content anonymously and the Internet Watch Foundation will work with platforms to have it taken down. Young people don't need to involve parents or police to use it, though both remain options. Children should understand they're not at fault if an image appears, and that a removal route exists.

What are regulators doing about it?

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator overseeing the Online Safety Act, has noted that AI is lowering the cost and difficulty of producing sexualised content involving minors. No new rulemaking or enforcement trigger has been publicly announced in connection with this particular surge. Platforms are already required to detect and remove child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated versions, under obligations that took effect in stages through 2024 and into 2025.

Watch this space: the policy picture is still developing, and Ofcom has shown it's willing to use financial pressure on platforms that don't comply, as we reported when it threatened big tech with fines of up to 10% of global revenue over scam advertising on 12 July.

Common questions

Can a fake image still be illegal even if it was never a real photo?

Yes. Under the Online Safety Act 2023, the law covers digitally created intimate images of real people, not just photographs taken in reality.

Where can a child report this without telling their parents?

Report Remove, run by the Internet Watch Foundation, is anonymous. A young person can use it without identifying themselves to any adult or authority.