Deepfake abuse has moved from a disturbing online experiment to a tool for harassment, blackmail, and intimidation. Almost 150 politicians across Europe have appeared on harmful deepfake pornography websites over the last few years, while schools face criminal gangs using pupil photographs to create sexualised images.
The technology behind these attacks became more accessible and realistic after AI-created deepfakes first emerged in 2017. Millions of nonconsensual AI images and videos have since been created, with women and girls making up 96 percent of the targets of deepfake sexual content.
Women politicians face a huge targeting gap
Research led by Benjamin Shultz examined around 160 domains that host deepfake abuse and other nonconsensual sexual content. Shultz compiled details of more than 5,800 members of parliaments across Europe in July 2026, finding that at least 138 women members of parliament from 22 European Union countries had appeared or been mentioned on the sites.
Only nine male MPs were referenced in any way. That makes women MPs 33 times more likely to be targeted by these deepfake ecosystems, a gap that connects sexualised abuse with the wider pattern of online hate against women in public life.
Politicians from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and France appeared on the websites most often. Suzanne Kröger, a Dutch member of parliament, described the problem in plain terms: “Deepfake porn is part of a much bigger trend of online hate and intimidation against women and female politicians.”
Shultz said the sites make the process easy for attackers. “It has all the images, all the information, and a direct link to the tool, and in three clicks you can generate.” Sarah Dobbe also said, “Deepfake videos are used to intimidate politicians but also to belittle women.”
The harm does not stop when an image is exposed as fake. Victims can face damage to their reputation, pressure at work, and fear that colleagues, voters, or family members will believe the material. Kirsty Pellant, a deepfake victim from Kent, described that impact this way: “The damage to my reputation wasn’t just a consequence of the stalking, it was part of the abuse itself.”
Schools are becoming another target
The same tools are creating serious risks for children and teachers. Aidos, an AI safeguarding tool founded by Carole Osborne, commissioned a survey of 500 UK primary and secondary school teachers. The In Plain Sight survey found that 49 percent had experienced incidents involving pupil image misuse, manipulation, or extortion attempts.
Nearly half of headteachers reported pupil images being used for harmful acts, including blackmail and extortion. More than half of headteachers also expressed concern that images published on school websites could be vulnerable to AI misuse, while 54 percent of teachers shared concerns about their school’s published images.
Parents are already raising complaints. Forty-five percent of teachers said their school had received a direct complaint from a parent about misuse of a pupil’s image. Criminal gangs are creating deepfake sexualised images of children from pictures posted on social media and websites, then using them to blackmail schools for ransom.
Simon Bailey, a former national policing lead for child protection, said organized crime groups are targeting school heads with a precise understanding of their pressure points. He also warned that many schools may be dealing with abuse privately instead of reporting it: “I strongly believe that many schools that have been targeted are, in many cases, not reporting it. They are managing it all behind closed doors, and the true picture continues to remain hidden.”
Osborne said many schools remain in the mindset that deepfake abuse will not happen to them and are unaware of how much abuse is taking place. The National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation have advised parents not to post pictures of their children online.
New UK offences target the technology
The UK government has introduced new offences covering the creation and solicitation of non-consensual intimate images, including deepfakes. Changes to the Online Safety Act require platforms to remove this content quickly, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said platforms must take it down within 48 hours or face consequences.
A DSIT spokesperson called sharing or creating intimate images without consent a “disgusting” crime and said tech bosses could face liability. The government is also banning AI tools that generate deepfake sexual images of people without consent, with developers and suppliers facing up to three years in prison.
The UK strategy includes more than £6 million for support helplines and stronger Stalking Protection Orders. In January 2025, a perpetrator convicted of creating deepfakes received a five-year sentence through a case involving the Crown Prosecution Service.
Those measures address the people making and distributing abusive material, but the scale of the problem shows why prevention matters too. Images posted for ordinary reasons can become raw material for criminal abuse, and the damage can spread before a victim finds out.
Deepfake abuse now reaches parliaments, classrooms, and homes. Its targets may be politicians, teachers, or children, but the pattern is the same: accessible AI tools turn private images into weapons, while victims are left to manage the personal and public fallout.
Based on
- Sexually Explicit Deepfake Sites Target 100-Plus Politicians in Europe — wired.com
- Inside the deepfake epidemic sexualising students and terrorising British schools | The Independent — independent.co.uk
- Criminal gangs blackmailing schools with deepfake child sex abuse images at ‘shocking’ scale, experts say | The Independent — independent.co.uk
- ‘I was trolled after fake images made me out to be a sex worker’ — bbc.com
