Deepfake Nudes: Helping Teens Navigate Digital Threats and Bullies
Teens face a new digital threat: deepfake nudes. Parents can help prevent this form of bullying by empowering teens with the skills and resources to be safer online.
Key Points:
Easy-to-use deepfake apps allow quick creation of damaging and fake sexually explicit images.
Creating and sharing these images often starts as a prank, thanks to immature teenage brains.
Victims experience shame, anxiety, and lasting emotional harm.
Bystanders also experience stress and distress, impacting mental health.
Open family communication on online risks fosters safety and awareness.
This post was inspired by Brandon Laur, CEO and instructor at The White Hatter, who will be joining Diana Graber and me on our next Cyberwise Chat AI & "Deepnudes": What Parents and Educators Need to Know on 10/31/2024 . Brandon specializes in crafting digital literacy workshops tailored for a diverse audience, including students, parents, educators, and business professionals. He has reviewed 24 “undressing” apps and will share his insights and practical advice on this complex, difficult and, frankly, scary topic. Beyond sexual harassment, deepfakes have implications for all kinds of misinformation by undermining reality. The more I researched, the more I realized how little I know, but how important it is to find out more.
Deepfake Nudes: A New Form of Digital Bullying
Deepfake technology—a form of AI that can create hyper-realistic, synthetic videos, images, and audio—has grown at a staggering rate. Deepfake nudes are one of the darker applications of this technology, and a spate of recent occurrences in high schools are causing alarm and complex challenges for parents and educators. Not least because the teens are the perpetrators, circulating images of classmates to each other.
Easy accessibility with relatively little technical skill enables users to take photos of others and weaponize them into realistic images of compromising explicit content. Creating and sharing these images often starts as a prank, thanks to immature teenage brains that lack self-regulation and succumb to peer pressure with little thought to the consequences. But deepfake nudes and undressing apps are no joke—they are a form of sexual harassment that takes a significant psychological toll on those involved.
The Threat of Accessible Deepfake Software
Creating a deepfake requires no special knowledge. With a smartphone and an app, users can generate and share manipulated content, including nudes, within minutes. Many deepfake platforms explicitly ban pornographic or harmful content. However, it’s relatively easy to bypass these restrictions with illicit workarounds, leading to a proliferation of deepfake nudes.
More than 90% of deepfake content online is pornographic, and most depict women and girls. Low use barriers, combined with a desire for social power or revenge, have made deepfake technology an increasingly common tool for cyberbullying—and not exclusively aimed at teens. One Indiana teacher, the subject of deepfake nudes shared among her students, was so traumatized that she felt unable to return to teaching.
Deepfake Nudes Impact Everyone Involved
The emotional toll of being a target of deepfake nudes is profound. Adolescents and young adults, who are already at a vulnerable developmental stage, can experience a range of harmful psychological effects when targeted by this kind of digital abuse.
Deepfake nudes are a severe invasion of privacy. Subjects can feel a loss of control over their bodies when their likeness is manipulated without their consent, leading to a diminished sense of self-worth, shame, and embarrassment. The fear of judgment and ostracism can also fuel anxiety, depression, and, in extreme cases, suicidal ideation. The effects of being sexually harassed in this way can be long-lasting, impacting trust, social relationships, and self-esteem well into adulthood. Coming forward exposes the victim to more embarrassment and encourages victim-blaming, while the perpetrators are often invisible Intimate images shared without consent cause comparable psychological harm to direct sexual abuse (Naezer & van Oosterhout, 2021). Deepfakes leave anyone with an online presence vulnerable to dehumanization and embarrassment, but for teens, it can be overwhelming.
The Ripple Effect on Bystanders
Even those on the periphery of deepfake nudes can experience psychological fallout. Where social networks are tight-knit, bystanders may feel helpless or complicit. Fear of judgment or retribution, ambiguity, and peer pressure can deter students from intervening. Witnessing bullying can lead to increased levels of stress, anxiety, and empathy-based distress (Doumas & Midgett, 2020). Bystanders often feel guilt and distress from observing abuse, which can undermine their mental health and increase their sense of vulnerability.
Deepfake Nudes: A Violation of Bodily Autonomy and Bullying
Deepfake nudes strip away the fundamental right of bodily autonomy--the control over one’s body without interference or manipulation by others. Distorting a person’s image in sexually explicit ways without consent perpetuates a sense of powerlessness in the target, placing the victim’s body—or a facsimile thereof—under the control of someone else.
Deepfake nudes are an especially invasive form of digital bullying. Much like other forms of cyberbullying, the goal is often to humiliate, intimidate, or exert control over the victim. When a student becomes the target of a deepfake, they’re subjected to ridicule and objectification, and this form of abuse can be particularly insidious because, unlike traditional bullying, digital content can be copied and shared widely, amplifying the harm.
What To Do If You Are a Target of Deepfake Nudes
If deepfake nudes have targeted you or someone you know, here are some steps to reduce the harm:
Document Evidence: Take screenshots, note URLs, and document any conversations or threats from the person distributing the images. This documentation is essential for reporting to authorities and online platforms.
Report the Content: Most social media platforms and websites have protocols for reporting non-consensual content. Reach out to the platform directly and provide the necessary information to have the content removed.
Seek Support: Being the victim of a deepfake can feel isolating, but speaking to a trusted adult, counselor, or friend can help manage the emotional impact. Professional therapists, particularly those trained in cyber trauma, can provide strategies for coping with the stress and shame associated with deepfake abuse.
Engage Legal Help: Some countries and states have specific laws against non-consensual pornography and deepfake content. In the United States, for instance, 48 states have revenge porn laws that may apply to deepfakes. Consulting a legal source can clarify what options are available.
Parents: Build Trust and Educate Teens
Parents play an essential role in helping teens navigate the digital world and the risks associated with deepfake technology. Kids are often too embarrassed and ashamed to seek help around issues related to sex—even if they are completely innocent. Open conversations about technology’s risks and benefits can build trust and create a safe space for teens to seek help if they encounter harmful digital experiences.
Foster Open Communication: Encourage teens to talk about their online experiences, friendships, and any concerns about digital bullying or privacy. When children know they won’t be judged, they’re more likely to reach out in times of distress.
Educate on Privacy: Teach teens about the importance of digital privacy. Remind them that even seemingly harmless images can be used maliciously and that sharing any personal information online should be done with caution.
Stay Informed: Deepfake technology evolves rapidly. Parents should stay updated on current trends in digital media to understand better the challenges their kids may face.
Set Digital Boundaries: Establish clear guidelines about sharing photos and interacting with others online. This can include avoiding the sharing of compromising or identifiable images and being cautious about whom they trust online. This includes reexamining parents’ sharing of their children’s images too. "Sharenting" is a term sometimes used to refer to parents sharing content about their children online. But even well-intentioned sharing makes kids’ images available online.
Actions Teens and Young Adults Can Take to Protect Their Privacy
For teens and young adults, there are proactive measures that can help mitigate the risk of deepfake abuse:
Limit Sharing Personal Content: Avoid sharing private or compromising images, even with close friends or partners. Once an image is online, it can be difficult to control who sees it or how it is used.
Use Strong Privacy Settings: Regularly update privacy settings on social media accounts and avoid public sharing whenever possible. Ensuring that only trusted friends can view personal photos and information can provide a layer of protection.
Be Cautious of Unfamiliar Platforms: Certain websites or apps may request access to a user’s photo gallery or camera. Avoid providing access to platforms that are untrusted or have poor security reputations.
Legal and Ethical Implications of Deepfake Nudes
While deepfake technology has legitimate applications in entertainment and art, its misuse presents complex legal and ethical challenges. Public Citizen reports that 23 states have passed some nonconsensual deepfake law. However, laws are still catching up to the technology, often making prosecuting those who create or distribute deepfake nudes difficult.
Ethically, deepfake nudes raise questions about consent, respect, and accountability in digital spaces. They expose a troubling trend in which people, often young women, are objectified and exploited without recourse. The responsibility for preventing this type of abuse rests with all of us. As a society, we have a moral obligation to protect individuals’ digital autonomy and to hold perpetrators and bullies accountable.
Resources for Dealing with Deepfake Content
For those affected by deepfake nudes, several resources are available to help report and remove harmful content:
Takeitdown.org is a free service that can help remove or stop the online sharing of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos taken of you when you were under 18 years old.
Thorn.org offers a free guide to talking to kids about digital safety, including deepfake nudes.
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI): Provides legal resources and support for victims of non-consensual pornography.
STOPNCII.org: An international platform dedicated to removing non-consensual intimate images from the internet.
Social Media Help Centers: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer specific guidelines for reporting non-consensual images.
Conclusion
The rise of deepfake nudes represents a disturbing intersection of technology, privacy, and bullying, one that affects many young people today. By investing in digital literacy training, having open conversations, and getting involved, we can help reduce the impact of deepfake nudes and prepare our kids to navigate the digital environment more safely.
References
Doumas, D. M., & Midgett, A. (2020). Witnessing cyberbullying and internalizing symptoms among middle school students. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 10(4), 957-966.
Naezer, M., & van Oosterhout, L. (2021). Only sluts love sexting: Youth, sexual norms and non-consensual sharing of digital sexual images. Journal of Gender Studies, 30(1), 79-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1799767
Public Citizen. (2024, October 24). Twenty states enact laws to regulate political deepfakes. Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://www.citizen.org/news/twenty-states-enact-laws-to-regulate-political-deepfakes/
Thanks for the several resources that are available to help report and remove harmful content.