Editorial: Protecting children from deepfake abuse
Young people may see apps as harmless fun, but the consequences are grave
A teenage girl stands confidently to address her school assembly, unaware that this moment will soon be twisted into a nightmare.
Within days, a photo of her is stripped bare using AI-powered deepfake apps that ‘undress’ people digitally. The fake nude image is now circulating among her school peers and beyond.
This is not fiction. This is happening in Malta today.
Deborah Vassallo, coordinator of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services’ Be Smart Online internet safety project, told Times of Malta last week her organisation received four reports of deepfake naked images in the past six months. The youngest victim was just 12 years old.
Young people may see these apps as harmless fun, but the consequences are grave: humiliation, blackmail, and the risk of these images ending up on paedophile forums.
As the world discusses the hard-hitting Netflix series Adolescence, this is another chilling reminder of the complicated realities that our children are growing up with today. In the TV show, a young boy turns to violent behaviour partly driven by Instagram’s pressure for validation. Rejection plays a central role – just like in many deepfake cases, where fake nudes are created as a form of revenge after a breakup, as Vassallo told Times of Malta.
This raises urgent questions. Are we giving our children the tools to deal with rejection, shame, and conflict in healthy ways? Are we teaching them that their worth isn’t tied to popularity or appearances?
Every generation has to grapple with new trends and technologies that can put people at risk. But AI deepfakes make it disturbingly easy to violate someone’s dignity with a few taps. And Malta’s legal system, like others, may be lagging behind.
Victims often suffer twice: first from the abuse, then from the system.
Parents hesitate to report incidents out of fear their children will be retraumatised by long investigations, invasive questioning, or delayed justice.
In Spain, when 20 girls as young as 14 discovered their photos had been deepfaked in this way, police opened an investigation but found that the perpetrators were under the age of criminal responsibility. Are Malta’s laws better equipped to deal with such cases?
Surely, creating and sharing identifiable fake nudes should be classified as a crime, potentially equivalent to other child sexual abuse material, given their potential to haunt victims indefinitely and spread among paedophiles.
Schools also need to double down on digital literacy programmes – not just to spot manipulation, but to understand consent, consequences and self-worth.
Be Smart Online serves as a good foundation, but their work needs to be supported. Parents, too, need support. Workshops can help families discuss tech risks openly and build trust, instead of relying on bans that push problems underground.
Like Jamie, the young boy in Adolescence, many children crave approval in a world that reduces them to likes and shares. We must remind them, at home and at school, that their value goes deeper.
This starts at home with parents building confidence, and continues in classrooms where educators reinforce self-respect and esteem.
If we delay, our children will suffer, first from the abuse, then from our inaction.
We must build a society where they are safe, not silenced; where technology empowers, not endangers.
Beyond outrage, we need intelligent action: laws that deter and punish criminal behaviour, schools that teach good practices, and families that empower their children to believe in their own value and the value of others.
Let’s ensure Malta’s children grow up in a world that protects their dignity, not one that steals it.