UK warns parents over children’s photos online amid rise in AI abuse imagery

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) has urged parents and carers to avoid posting children’s photos publicly online, warning of the growing use of artificial intelligence to create sexual abuse material.

In joint guidance with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the agency recommended that families make social media accounts private or restrict sharing to “close friends” groups, according to a report by The Guardian.

Officials said they were not directing how parents should use social media, but aimed to raise awareness of emerging risks linked to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The guidance also advises parents to review older images already posted online, check privacy settings, and reconsider consent agreements with schools and sports clubs signed before recent advances in AI technology.

It sets out three main steps: tightening privacy settings, limiting access to children’s images, and discussing consent for sharing photos with organisations.

The NCA warned that many parents may be unaware that publicly available images can be used by offenders to generate abusive content without direct contact with victims.

“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,” said Lorna Sinclair, a child sexual abuse education manager at the NCA. “There are lots of parents and carers who do not know that this problem exists.”