Someone made a deepfake of a classmate (or of you): what to do in the first 24 hours

It arrives in the class group chat, or somebody shows you in the playground: a photo of a classmate, or of you, with the body swapped, naked or in a situation that never happened. Made with an app in two minutes. Before you do anything, two things. First: the person in that picture has done nothing; the problem belongs to whoever made it and whoever forwards it, and the law in several countries now says so. Second: the order of what you do today matters more than almost anything that happens afterwards.

The first 24 hours, if the image is of you

• Do not forward it to anyone, not even to ask whether it is real or to get advice. Every forward is one more copy that has to be deleted later.
• Do not delete it yet. Take screenshots showing the account that posted it, the URL or the group name, and the date and time. Those screenshots are the evidence, and they go only to an adult and to the police, never to the group.
• Report it on the platform. Every major app has a report button for intimate images shared without consent; use it from the post itself.
• Tell a trusted adult today: mum, dad, form tutor, an aunt, a coach. Today, not once things calm down. The three sentences for doing it are further down.
• With that adult, tell the school (your tutor or the head) and report it to the police with the screenshots.
• Do not reply to the person who did it and do not try to sort it out alone with them. And never negotiate with someone who threatens to spread it.

If it was forwarded to you

• Do not forward it. Not to your best friend, not with a comment about how bad it is.
• Write one sentence in the group: this is fake and it does not get shared. If it keeps circulating, leave the group.
• Delete it from your phone. Having a realistic sexual image of someone under 18 on your phone can be a crime in itself, even if you did not make it.
• Tell the person in the picture. They should hear it from someone on their side, not in the corridor.
• Report it in the app and tell an adult yourself too. You do not have to be the victim to ask for help.

What the law says in the UK

Sharing an intimate image of someone without their consent has been an offence since the Online Safety Act 2023 wrote section 66B into the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and the wording covers images that show or appear to show the person in an intimate state. Since 6 February 2026 it is also an offence to create a purported intimate image of an adult without consent, an image that looks like a photo or film of them but is not (section 66E, inserted by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025). For anyone under 18, an older law does the heavy lifting: the Protection of Children Act 1978 treats a pseudo-photograph, an image made by computer graphics that appears to be a photograph, exactly like an indecent photograph of a child, and making, distributing or showing one is a crime.

Where to get help

• Childline, 0800 1111: free, confidential, for anyone under 19 in the UK, open 24 hours a day, by phone or 1-2-1 counsellor chat at childline.org.uk.
• Report Remove, run by Childline with the Internet Watch Foundation: lets under-18s in the UK report a sexual image or video of themselves confidentially so the IWF can work to get it taken down.
• Take It Down (NCMEC, takeitdown.ncmec.org): free, works anywhere in the world, for anyone who was under 18 when the image was made. It creates a hash of the image on your own device and only that goes to participating platforms; it does not work on encrypted apps. Its FAQ does not say whether AI-made images are accepted, so ask Childline first.
• The police, with the screenshots. The report is what sets removal and the investigation in motion.

If the person reading this is a parent: the first reaction decides whether your child ever tells you anything like this again. No why-do-you-have-that-app and no who-are-you-talking-to. First: thank you for telling me, this is not your fault, we will sort it out together. The lecture, if it is needed at all, another day. One last thing for the person in the picture: that image is not you, it is a file somebody else built, and platforms and police know exactly how to handle this case because they see it every week. A month from now this will be a matter that adults are dealing with, not your problem alone. Telling someone today is what makes that month shorter.