UNITED NATIONS, Feb 10 (IPS) – New findings from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveal that millions of children’s images are being manipulated into sexualized content through the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), fueling a fast-growing and highly harmful form of online abuse. The agency warns that without strong regulatory frameworks and meaningful collaboration between governments and technology platforms, this escalating threat could have devastating consequences for the next generation.
A 2025 report from The Childlight Global Child Safety Institute– an independent organization that tracks child sexual exploitation and abuse – has seen a staggering increase in technology-facilitated child abuse in recent years, from 4,700 cases in the United States in 2023 to more than 67,000 in 2024. A significant portion of these incidents involved deepfakes: AI-generated images, videos and audio designed to appear realistic and often used to promote sexualized content. create. This includes widespread ‘nudification’, where AI tools strip or alter clothing in photos to produce fabricated nude images.
A joint study by UNICEF, Interpol and End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) International has found that child sexual abuse images have been manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes of at least 1.2 million children in the past year alone. This means that roughly one in 25 children – or one child in every class – has already fallen victim to this emerging form of digital abuse.
“When a child’s image or identity is used, that child immediately becomes a victim,” said a UNICEF representative. “Even without an identifiable victim, AI-generated child sexual abuse material normalizes the sexual exploitation of children, fuels demand for abusive content, and poses significant challenges for law enforcement in identifying and protecting children in need of help. Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm it causes.”
A 2025 study by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC npc) studied public attitudes towards deepfake abuse and found that deepfake abuse increased by 1,780 percent between 2019 and 2024. A representative survey in the UK conducted by Crest Advisory reported that almost three in five respondents were concerned about falling victim to deepfake abuse.
Additionally, 34 percent admitted to having created a sexual or intimate deepfake of someone they knew, while 14 percent had created deepfakes of someone they did not know. The research also found that women and girls are disproportionately targeted, with social media identified as the most common place where these deepfakes are spread.
The study also presented respondents with a scenario in which a person creates an intimate deepfake of their partner, discloses it to them, and later spreads it to others after an argument. Alarmingly, 13 percent of respondents believe that this behavior should be both morally and legally acceptable, while another 9 percent are neutral. NPCC also reported that those who viewed this behavior as acceptable were likely to be younger men who actively consume pornography and agree with beliefs that would be “widely considered misogynistic.”
“We live in deeply worrying times, the future of our daughters (and sons) is at stake if we do not take decisive action in the digital space soon,” award-winning activist and internet personality Cally-Jane Beech told NPCC. “We are looking at an entire generation of children who have grown up without any protections, laws or regulations about this, and are now seeing the dark ripple effect of that freedom.”
Deepfake abuse can have serious and lasting psychological and social consequences for children, often leading to intense shame, anxiety, depression and anxiety. In a new report UNICEF notes that a child’s body, identity and reputation can be remotely, invisibly and permanently violated by deepfake abuse, in addition to the risk of threats, blackmail and extortion from the perpetrators. Feelings of violation – coupled with the permanence and viral spread of digital content – can leave victims with long-lasting trauma, distrust and disrupted social development.
“Many experience acute fear and anxiety when they discover that their image has been manipulated into sexualized content,” said Afrooz Kaviani Johnson, child protection specialist at UNICEF Headquarters. “Children report feelings of shame and stigma, exacerbated by the loss of control over their own identity. This harm is real and lasting: being depicted in sexualized deepfakes can have serious consequences for a child’s well-being, affecting their trust in digital spaces and making them feel unsafe even in their daily ‘offline’ lives.”
Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunications Union (THAT), added that online abuse can also translate into physical harm.
In one joint statement on Artificial intelligence and the rights of the childMajor UN entities including UNICEF, ITU, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child (CRC) warned that there is a widespread lack of AI literacy among children, parents, caregivers and teachers. This refers to the basic ability to understand how AI systems work and how to interact with them critically and effectively. This knowledge gap makes young people particularly vulnerable, making it more difficult for victims and their support systems to recognize when a child is being targeted, to report abuse or to access adequate protection and support services.
The UN also emphasized that a significant share of responsibility lies with technology platforms, noting that most generative AI tools do not provide meaningful safeguards to prevent digital exploitation of children.
“From UNICEF’s perspective, deepfake abuse has thrived in part because legal and regulatory frameworks have not kept pace with the technology. In many countries, laws do not explicitly recognize AI-generated sexualized images of children as child sexual abuse material (CSAM),” Johnson said.
UNICEF is urging governments to ensure that CSAM definitions are updated to include AI-generated content and “explicitly criminalize both its creation and distribution.” According to Johnson, technology companies should be required to adopt so-called ‘safety-by-design measures’ and ‘children’s rights impact assessments’.
However, he emphasized that legislation and regulations alone, while essential, would not be sufficient. “Social norms that tolerate or minimize sexual abuse and exploitation must also change. Effectively protecting children will require not just better laws, but real shifts in attitudes, enforcement and support for those harmed.”
Commercial incentives further exacerbate the problem, with platforms benefiting from increased user engagement, subscriptions and publicity generated by AI imaging tools, creating little motivation to implement stricter protection measures.
As a result, tech companies often only introduce guardrails after major public controversies – long after children have already been affected. An example of this is Grok, the AI chatbot for X (formerly Twitter), which generated large amounts of non-consensual, sexualized deepfake images in response to user prompts. Facing widespread, international backlash, X announced in January that Grok’s image generator tool would only be limited to X’s paying subscribers.
However, the investigation into Grok is still ongoing. The United Kingdom and the European Union have opened investigations since January, as did prosecutors in France on February 3 raids X’s offices as part of its investigation into the platform’s alleged role in spreading CSAM and deepfakes. X’s owner Elon Musk was called in for questioning.
UN officials have emphasized the need for regulatory frameworks that protect children online while still allowing AI systems to grow and generate revenue. “Initially we felt they were concerned about stifling innovation, but our message is very clear: with responsible use of AI you can still make a profit, you can still do business and you can still gain market share,” said a senior UN official. “The private sector is a partner, but we need to raise a red flag when we see something that will lead to undesirable outcomes.”
IPS UN Office
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