A single photo could turn into blackmail: UK warns parents against sharing children's pictures with AI

2026-07-04T15:26:39.182Z

Britain's National Crime Agency has warned parents against posting pictures of their children online, after criminal gangs exploited a school's student photos to create fake AI-generated sexual images and blackmail them. This comes amid increasing international moves and legislation to protect minors from harmful content and digital exploitation.

The National Crime Agency issued a strong warning to parents against posting pictures of their children online, stating that these images could be exploited to create child sexual abuse material using artificial intelligence techniques.

This warning was part of new guidelines prepared by the agency in collaboration with the Internet Watch Foundation, aimed at protecting children from the growing threat of fake AI-generated sexual images, as part of an awareness campaign targeting parents and caregivers.

The warning followed a case where a British school was targeted by criminal gangs that used publicly available photos of its students to create fake AI-generated sexual images, before blackmailing the victims and threatening to publish them in exchange for money, according to the Internet Watch Foundation.

Safe Internet for Children

This warning reflects escalating global concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence to children's safety in the digital space. Ongoing warnings about exposure to harmful content, sexual exploitation, and online blackmail have prompted several governments to tighten restrictions on children's use of social media platforms, imposing age limits and oversight measures to provide a safer digital environment for minors.

The British government recently announced plans to prevent children under 16 from accessing a number of online platforms, in a step aimed at protecting them from harmful content and reducing excessive screen use.

Similarly, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have passed laws or announced measures imposing age restrictions on children's access to social media platforms. Australia's prime minister also announced that his government intends to tighten laws banning children under 16 from accessing these platforms, as part of broader efforts to enhance their safety in the digital space.

Rising risks for children

The rapid spread of harmful AI-generated content online has prompted the United Nations to issue warnings and calls for stricter measures to protect children from exploitation, abuse, and digital blackmail.

UN agencies, including the International Telecommunication Union, have stated that children now face increasing threats including sexual grooming, deepfake techniques, cyberbullying, and inappropriate content, warning that AI gives perpetrators more sophisticated tools to analyze children's behavior and lure them, as well as to produce fake sexual images used for blackmail.

Figures indicate this phenomenon is escalating at an alarming rate; a 2025 report by the Institute