What If Your Child Is the One Making Deepfakes

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This post is a companion to Post 9 — Deepfakes Are Real: What Parents Need to See to Understand, which covers the harm side and what to do if your child is targeted.

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Post 9 talked about deepfakes from the perspective of a family whose child has been harmed. This post covers the situation that is at least as common and considerably harder to talk about: discovering that your child is the one who made them.

This happens. It happens more than most parents expect, and the children involved are not usually the kids you'd expect. Curiosity about technology, peer dynamics, poor judgment, and a genuine failure to understand the harm can lead a child down this path without any malicious intent. That doesn't make it less serious. It does make it something that parents can address, rather than something they should panic about.

This post is not legal advice. If you are dealing with a situation that may involve criminal activity, you should speak with a lawyer before taking action. Legal Aid BC can help if cost is a barrier.¹

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Why children create deepfakes — and why understanding this matters

Before you can have a productive conversation with your child, it helps to understand why this happens in the first place.

The most common reasons are not what parents fear. Most children who create deepfakes are not predators. More often, the factors are:

They don't understand what they're doing. The tools to create AI-generated images are widely available, often marketed as entertainment or art apps, and require almost no technical knowledge. A child can generate a realistic fake image of a classmate in a few minutes without understanding what they've created or why it's harmful.

They don't understand the harm. Children — especially younger teenagers — often have a limited ability to model how their actions will affect someone else emotionally. The idea that a fake image can cause real distress to a real person is not intuitive, particularly when the image didn't require the person to be present and may not have been shown to them.

Peer pressure and social dynamics. Creating or sharing this kind of content can happen in group contexts — a private chat, a friend group — where the social pressure to participate is high and the sense of individual responsibility is low.

Misguided retaliation or conflict. A dispute with a classmate, a breakup, a falling-out between friends. Children who are angry and have access to powerful tools sometimes use them in ways they would not, on reflection, endorse.

Genuine sexual curiosity misdirected through technology. For adolescents, curiosity about sexuality is normal. What is not normal is expressing it by generating intimate images of real people without their consent. Children often do not understand why this is categorically different from other forms of sexual curiosity.

Understanding the reason matters because it shapes how you approach the conversation — and what support your child actually needs.

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What the law actually says

This section summarizes the legal landscape. It is not a substitute for legal advice, and the law in this area is changing. Speak with a lawyer about your specific situation.

The Criminal Code of Canada

Non-consensual distribution of intimate images (Section 162.1) — Distributing an intimate image of a real person without their consent is a federal criminal offence, whether or not the image is real or AI-generated. "Intimate image" includes images that depict a person's genital organs, anal region, or breasts, or that show the person engaged in explicit sexual activity. The maximum penalty is five years' imprisonment.²

Child sexual abuse and exploitation material (Section 163.1) — This is the most serious potential exposure. If the deepfake constitutes a visual representation of a person under 18 engaged in explicit sexual activity, or whose dominant characteristic is the depiction of sexual organs, it may constitute child sexual abuse and exploitation material (CSAM) under the Criminal Code, regardless of whether the person depicted is real or AI-generated. The maximum penalties are severe. This provision has been applied to AI-generated images.³

Criminal harassment (Section 264) — Using deepfakes to persistently harass, threaten, or intimidate someone can constitute criminal harassment.⁴

Uttering threats (Section 264.1) — Using deepfake content to threaten someone is a criminal offence.⁵

If the child is between 12 and 17, the Youth Criminal Justice Act applies. The youth justice system is distinct from adult criminal justice and places a heavier emphasis on rehabilitation. Consequences are real but the process is different, and a youth record is treated differently from an adult criminal record.⁶ A lawyer who works with youth is essential if you are in this territory.

Children under 12 cannot be charged with a criminal offence in Canada.

BC's Intimate Images Protection Act

British Columbia's Intimate Images Protection Act (2023) is civil law — it provides remedies to victims, not criminal punishment. But it applies to the person who created or distributed the images, and the remedies can include court orders requiring the content to be removed, prohibiting further distribution, and potentially ordering financial compensation.

Critically, the IIPA does not require intent to harm. Distributing intimate images of a real person without their consent — including AI-generated images — is sufficient. The age of the person who did it is not a complete defence.⁷

Defamation and reputation

Deepfakes that are not intimate but that portray a real person in a false, damaging, or humiliating way can constitute defamation. This is a civil matter, not criminal, but civil liability is real and can follow someone into adulthood.

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When you discover it: what to do first

The immediate steps matter. They also depend on what was actually created and shared.

Stay calm before you act. Your initial reaction — however justified — will shape whether your child tells you the truth and cooperates. If you escalate immediately, they will shut down. This is one of those situations where finding out what actually happened matters more than expressing how you feel about it.

Find out exactly what was made and whether it was shared. There is a significant difference between a deepfake that exists on one device and has never been sent to anyone, and content that has been distributed. Both are serious, but the immediate steps are different.

If intimate images of a minor are involved — stop and seek guidance before doing anything else. This is the one situation where the immediate steps are not something you should navigate alone. Contact Cybertip.ca or a lawyer before making decisions about what to preserve, what to delete, or who to contact. Cybertip.ca is the national reporting mechanism for child sexual abuse material; their staff can advise you on the appropriate steps given your specific situation.

Deleting CSAM without reporting can itself create legal complications. This is a situation that requires professional guidance, not independent problem-solving.

If the content has been shared, stop further distribution now. Have your child delete it from their device and from anywhere they've sent it — messaging apps, social media, cloud storage. Document what you know (platform, when it was sent, who received it) before you start deleting, so you have a record.

Contact the school if it involves classmates. If the deepfake was created or shared in a school context, involves a classmate, or has already spread in your child's peer group, the school needs to know. Use ERASE (Expect Respect and A Safe Education) if you're not sure where to start. Schools have obligations to respond to this and can involve appropriate staff.

Consider whether the affected person's family should be told. This is hard. But if another child has been harmed by what your child created, their parents have a right to know. Reaching out directly, with the school's involvement or separately, is something to consider with your child and, if relevant, with a lawyer or counsellor.

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The conversation with your child

This conversation is hard. Have it anyway, and have it thoroughly.

Start with what happened, not with punishment. You need the full picture before you can respond appropriately. Ask questions. Listen. Let your child explain without interrupting with your reaction, even if what you're hearing is upsetting.

Make the harm concrete. Abstract statements about "respecting people" are less effective than specific questions.

• "What do you think [person's name] would feel if they saw this?"
• "How would you feel if someone did this to you? To your sister? To me?"
• "Can you think of a way this could have affected their life — at school, with other people?"

Children who haven't thought through the real impact of what they did need to be walked through it. This isn't lecturing — it's asking them to do the thinking themselves.

Be clear about the legal reality — without weaponizing it. Your child should know that what they did can have serious legal consequences, including criminal charges. But framing this purely as a threat ("you could go to jail") is less effective than framing it as information they need to understand.

• "This is illegal in Canada. I want you to understand why, and what it means for you."
• "If someone reports this to police, they have to take it seriously. So do I."

Cover consent explicitly. Many children don't have a clear framework for consent beyond physical interaction. Expand it:

• A person consents to being in a photograph by agreeing to be photographed. They did not consent to having an AI image created of them.
• A person's face, body, and identity belong to them. Creating images that use those without permission is a violation, even if they never find out.

Talk about digital permanence. Content sent in a private message can be screenshotted and forwarded. Content posted anywhere can be cached, archived, and retrieved years later. What felt like a private joke can become a permanent part of someone's record — and the record of the child who created it.

Ask what they think should happen now. Accountability works better when the child participates in identifying it. What does your child think they owe the person they harmed? What would they be willing to do to try to fix it? This is not about letting them off the hook — it's about engaging their own moral reasoning.

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Getting outside help

This is not a situation most parents should handle alone, and handling it well is more important than handling it privately.

Counselling for your child. A counsellor or therapist experienced with youth and technology can help your child process what they did, understand why it was wrong, and develop better frameworks for future decisions. Your child's school counsellor is a starting point. Child and Youth Mental Health services in BC are publicly funded. Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868) is available to the youth themselves.

Legal advice. If there is any possibility that what your child did constitutes a criminal offence, you should speak with a lawyer before deciding what to do — including what to report, what to preserve, and what to delete. Legal Aid BC provides services on a sliding scale.

Restorative approaches. Some schools and community programs offer restorative justice processes for situations like this — structured conversations between the person who caused harm and the person who was harmed, with a facilitator. These are voluntary for all parties and may not be appropriate in every situation, but they can be a meaningful part of accountability and repair.

MediaSmarts (mediasmarts.ca) has resources for parents on talking to children about digital citizenship, online behavior, and the ethics of technology use. Their materials are designed for Canadian families and are consistently practical.

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After the immediate crisis

Once the immediate situation is addressed, there is longer-term work to do.

This is a significant moment in your child's development. How your family handles it — whether you treat it as something to be buried and never mentioned again, or as something to be understood, addressed, and learned from — will shape your child's relationship with accountability and technology for years.

The goal is not to make your child feel permanently ashamed. It is to make sure they genuinely understand what they did, why it was wrong, and what it cost the person they harmed. A child who reaches that understanding is far less likely to make a comparable decision again.

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If you're in an active situation and need guidance right now:

• Cybertip.ca — cybertip.ca — if intimate images of minors are involved
• Kids Help Phone — 1-800-668-6868 (24/7), or text CONNECT to 686868 — for your child
• Legal Aid BC — legalaid.bc.ca — legal advice if cost is a barrier
• ERASE — erase.gov.bc.ca — if the school is involved
• BC Crisis Line — 1-800-784-2433 — if you or your child are struggling to cope

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Notes