"Make the law work" We should feel safe sharing our kids’ faces online WITHOUT fear of sexual deepfake predators, says Georgia Harrison
The article features Georgia Harrison, television personality and campaigner against image-based abuse, who says she has stopped posting photos of her eight-month-old daughter, Sahara, on social media after learning that innocent pictures of children are increasingly being stolen and manipulated into AI-generated sexual deepfakes. Harrison argues that parents should not have to choose between sharing family moments and protecting their children from online predators.
Harrison says her decision followed a conversation with Baroness Beeban Kidron, a long-time advocate for children’s online safety, who warned her that publicly shared family photographs are being harvested and transformed into explicit AI-generated content. Although Harrison had already experienced image-based abuse herself, she admitted she had not fully understood the extent to which children were now being targeted by the same technology.
The article explains that Harrison has campaigned against online abuse since 2021, after her former partner Stephen Bear was convicted for unlawfully sharing an intimate video of her. She waived her anonymity during the trial, has since fronted documentaries on revenge porn and online abuse, and was awarded an MBE for her work combating violence against women and girls and promoting online safety.
While choosing not to share her daughter’s images for now, Harrison stresses that parents are not to blame for posting ordinary family photographs. Instead, she argues that responsibility lies entirely with the criminals who exploit those images and with platforms and authorities that fail to stop them. In her view, a society where parents feel compelled to hide their children online is evidence that predators are winning.
Harrison also calls for stronger enforcement of existing laws. She notes that the UK has criminalized sexually explicit AI deepfakes of adults and points to successful prosecutions involving AI-generated child abuse material, but argues that enforcement remains too limited. She urges the government to ensure that offenders are prosecuted consistently, platforms are held accountable, and the financial incentives behind this type of abuse are disrupted.
The article concludes with Harrison expressing hope that one day parents will again be able to share photos of their children online without fear. She believes the solution is not for families to withdraw from social media permanently, but for governments, technology companies and law enforcement to make online spaces safe by effectively tackling AI-enabled sexual exploitation and image-based abuse.
