Your Kid's Image Was Used to Create a Fake Image Online
The sense that you have worth that cannot be taken away by what others say or do.
You discover or are told that someone has used a photo of your child to create a manipulated or AI-generated fake image and shared it online.
AI tools now make it possible for anyone to create realistic fake images of real people in seconds, and kids are increasingly targets.
Your kid needs to know this happened to them, not because of them. Hold that distinction tightly from the first word you say.
"I need to talk to you about something serious. Someone may have used a photo of you to create a fake image. I'm not angry at you — I need you to tell me everything you know."
"Something has come to my attention and I want to handle it together with you, not at you. There's a situation involving a photo of you and I need to understand what happened before we figure out next steps."
"Why did you post so many photos?": Assigns blame to the victim. This was done to them, not caused by them.
"You did nothing wrong. This is something happening to more kids than you know — and there are ways to fight it. We're going to fight it together."
Report the content to the platform immediately, same day. Document with screenshots before reporting. Contact the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative at cybercivilrights.org for guidance. Do not reshare or reopen the content unnecessarily.
The fake image is sexual in nature. This is a crime regardless of your child's age. Contact law enforcement and the NCMEC CyberTipline at cybertipline.org the same day. Do not save or forward the image, document the URL and report location instead.
Be direct that this is called image-based abuse and it is illegal in most states. They have rights and there are legal resources specifically for this. Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (cybercivilrights.org) has a crisis helpline.