AI-generated nude photos of girl children as young as eleven years old in Spain's town of Almendralejo have been making the rounds on social media in what is considered a new form of child pornography.
Notably, an AI tool was used to analyse the images, which were primarily acquired from the girl children's social media accounts, and produce a hypersexualised unclothed image. Nearly 20–30 girls, ages 11 to 17, have reported being victims.
María Blanco Rayo, the mother of a 14-year-old, told the BBC, "One day my daughter came out of school and she said, "Mum there are photos circulating of me topless".
"I asked her if she had taken any photos of herself nude, and she said, 'No, Mum, these are fake photos of girls that are being created a lot right now and there are other girls in my class that this has happened to as well.''
The mother of one of the victims, Dr Miriam Al Adib, stated in an Instagram video that her daughter, 14, in particular, found the modified images to be particularly distressing because they appeared to be realistic.
''If I didn't know my daughter's body, this photo looks real. You (the culprits) are not aware of the damage you are causing. Using images to create this disgusting material and distributing them is a very serious crime,'' she said.
"Girls, don't be afraid to report such acts. Tell your mothers. Affected mothers, tell me so that you can be in the group that we created," she added.
There are already 11 complaints from victims, all of whom are juveniles, that the local law enforcement is handling. A support group has also been established by the parents of the affected kids to assist them in getting through the hardship.
According to the BBC, at least 11 local boys have been identified as being involved in the production of the photographs or their distribution using Telegram and WhatsApp. They are also looking into a claim that a bogus image of one of the girls was used in an attempt to extort money from that girl.
Speaking to AFP, a spokesperson from the local police said that the boys responsible for these ''manipulated photos of underage girls", superimposed their innocent faces onto the "bodies of other people" in other images.
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