Parents should avoid posting photographs of their children on public social media accounts as advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are making it easier for criminals to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) have warned.Issuing fresh guidance for parents and caregivers, the two organisations said that while AI has many positive applications, it is increasingly being exploited to manipulate ordinary photographs of children into sexually explicit content without their knowledge or consent.The advisory does not tell parents to stop sharing family photos altogether but recommends limiting who can view them by making social media accounts private or using “close friends” groups to share images only with trusted people.
AI-generated abuse material on the rise
According to the IWF, more than 8,000 AI-generated images and videos depicting realistic child sexual abuse were identified in 2025, marking a 14% increase compared to the previous year.The watchdog also reported a dramatic rise in AI-generated abuse videos, with the number increasing from just 13 cases in 2024 to 3,440 in 2025. Such imagery is classified as child sexual abuse material under UK law.Authorities said criminals no longer need to contact or groom children directly, as freely available AI tools can manipulate publicly available photographs into explicit content.“The average parent or carer does not post a picture of a child online thinking that it might be scraped to be turned into CSAM,” Lorna Sinclair, child sexual abuse education manager at the NCA, said, noting that many families remain unaware of the risks.
Three key steps for parents
The guidance outlines three simple measures that parents and guardians can take to better protect children online:
- Review privacy settings: Make social media accounts private or restrict photo visibility to trusted contacts through features such as “close friends.”
- Audit existing posts: Check whether old photographs reveal identifiable details such as a child’s face, school uniform or regular locations, and consider deleting or restricting access to such images.
- Revisit photo consent: Review permissions previously given to schools, nurseries, sports clubs or other organisations to publish children’s photographs, and withdraw consent if necessary.
The agencies also encouraged parents to involve children in conversations about when and where their photographs are shared, helping them feel comfortable saying no if they do not want an image posted online.
Growing cases of AI-enabled exploitation
The IWF said it has handled cases involving teenagers whose fully clothed selfies were transformed into explicit images using AI before being used for blackmail. Child protection services have also reported incidents where fake nude images were created using photographs taken from social media profiles.Separately, UK school websites have reportedly been targeted by criminals who scraped students’ photographs, used AI tools to generate abusive content and then attempted to extort schools by threatening to publish the manipulated images.In response, an online safety advisory group comprising the NCA, IWF and other organisations has recommended that schools avoid displaying identifiable photographs of pupils on publicly accessible websites and social media platforms.
‘Prevention remains vital’
Tim Wright, senior manager at the NCA, said that while law enforcement agencies continue to pursue offenders, prevention remains equally important.The NCA and IWF stressed that the guidance is intended to raise awareness rather than alarm parents, emphasising that a few precautionary steps can significantly reduce the chances of children’s images being misused as AI technology becomes increasingly accessible.
