This is what to watch out for on your child’s phone and how to approach the topic of deepfakes.<\/p>\n
What parents need to know about deepfakes<\/p>\n
Deepfakes are photos, videos or audio of real people that have been edited using AI software to create false depictions of them.<\/p>\n
When they are created without someone’s consent, they are a form of image-based abuse and creating them or sharing them can be a crime.<\/p>\n
Deepfake image-based abuse happening at least once a week in schools<\/a><\/p>\n The latest data revealed by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner comes just days after reports that digitally altered explicit images of female students from a Sydney high school were shared online.<\/p>\n Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant says the creation of deepfakes has exploded in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Research has found<\/a> they are overwhelmingly pornographic and almost always target girls and women.<\/p>\n There is a seemingly endless array of applications, often called “nudify” tools, that can be used to create deepfakes.<\/p>\n Safewise, a security review company, lists some of the apps<\/a> used to create deepfakes that parents should look out for.\u00a0<\/p>\n Safewise also warns that phone users can change the name and icon of apps or create shortcuts to hide apps.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parental controls<\/a> can be used to block or monitor which apps are downloaded to a phone.<\/p>\n But the tools used to create deepfakes are often embedded within seemingly harmless communication or fashion apps.<\/p>\n Does banning apps from a child’s phone help?<\/p>\n Focusing on banning specific apps from a child’s phone could be misspent effort, according to Joel Scanlan from the University of Tasmania.<\/p>\n Dr Scanlan researches the technical and social harms of the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n He says apps used to create deepfakes are constantly being taken down and relaunched under different names.<\/p>\n “It’s a constantly moving target,” he says.<\/p>\n Of more concern, he believes, are messaging apps such as Telegram that parents may not instinctively look for when assessing risk.<\/p>\n Telegram was at the centre of a crisis in South Korea last year<\/a>, during which deepfake nudes were shared between school students.<\/p>\n Unlike “nudify” apps that create imagery that must be shared on a separate platform, Telegram allows pictures to be generated within the app and shared in just a few clicks.<\/p>\n This makes it particularly dangerous, Dr Scanlan argues.<\/p>\n Professor Nicola Henry from RMIT researches the impact of online and offline sexual abuse and is a member of the eSafety Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group.<\/p>\n She says many “nudify” tools are not coming via the app store and would be hard to pick up on a teenager\u2019s phone if a parent did manage to take a look.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, images are frequently created on websites, Professor Henry says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The government is planning to geoblock sites of concern from the UK, but it is not foolproof. A VPN can easily get around the block.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Nudify” tools also can be hiding in apps that appear harmless, such as fashion apps that allow you to try on different clothing.<\/p>\n “There’s potential that people might use those tools to generate a bikini image, for example, that might fly under the radar of these app stores,” Professor Henry says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parents may not be able to tell if their teen is at risk from the apps on their phone. (ABC News: Rhiannon Shine)<\/p>\n Talking to children about deepfakes<\/p>\n The eSafety commissioner recommends parents<\/a> encourage open and regular communication about the harms of deepfakes with their children: “Keep your tone supportive and not judgemental. If something ever happens, your child will be more likely to come to you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n For the parents of children who create or share deepfakes, the eSafety commissioner recommends speaking about “respect, consent and digital values”.<\/p>\n Digital innovation researcher Rafaele Ciriello told the ABC<\/a> almost all targets of image-based abuse were women, and deepfakes were a “shocking” example of gendered violence.<\/p>\n Parents may need to start speaking with their children about deepfakes and image-based abuse earlier than they think.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n