At the moment, the legal options for people featured in deepfake videos has not kept up with the technology. In fact, it wasn’t ever prepared for the impact of AI-generated porn. “If a pornographic picture or video of you goes up online, your legal options for taking it down vary wildly,” says Aislinn O'Connell, a law lecturer from Royal Holloway University in London. YouTube did not immediately respond to a Daily Dot request for comment on Wednesday morning. But it seems clear that protecting the children who spend time on the platform is not yet—or might never be—a job that is officially done. Clare McGlynn, a professor at the Durham Law School who specializes in pornography regulations and sexual abuse images, agrees. “What this shows is the looming problem that is going to come for non-celebrities,” she says. “This is a serious issue for celebrities and others in the public eye. But my long­standing concern, speaking to survivors who are not celebrities, is the risk of what is coming down the line.” Start with a conversation, said Damour, author of “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable and Compassionate Adolescents.” On many of these videos, the comment sections have been disabled, so we don’t have to read the inner thoughts of those who might be pedophiliacs. But in one of the Russian videos, one commenter wrote, via Google Translate, “What a shame when she grows up.” And another commented, “Nice. Nipslip.”

Most teens reported seeing violent or aggressive forms of pornography, including 52% who reported having seen pornography depicting what appears to be rape, choking or someone in pain, the report said. Only about 33% reported seeing content where someone asks for consent. Most parents probably think, ‘Well that’s not my kid.’ But the numbers are overwhelming, so it probably is your kid,” said Jim Steyer, Common Sense Media founder and CEO. “This is an incredibly important public health and sexual health issue that’s literally being buried by parents, by educators and by all of us.” As the ORKA YouTube channel points out in a video that has accumulated nearly 150,000 views in two days, there are large numbers of videos starring children that have attracted commenters that seem to be attracted to those children. While YouTube tries to protect children f rom disturbing and obscene content, people who enjoy watching kids star in their own videos are still free to write whatever they want in those videos’ comment sections.

3. Daft Hands: Harder, Better, Faster Stronger: 2007

Some of this technology is improving so fast, because there's so much energy and drive, unfortunately, from the creators’ side,” Patrini says. “I think we're going to be seeing it applied very soon with much larger intent to private individuals.” He believes when the technology is easy for anyone to use there will be a “tipping point” when lawmakers will become aware of the problems. Although just over a quarter of the teens said they thought pornography gave an accurate depiction of sex, almost half said they got valuable information from the content they saw, according to the data. Alex Hawkins, VP of xHamster, says the company doesn’t have a specific policy for deepfakes but treats them “like any other nonconsensual content.” Hawkins says that the company’s moderation process involves multiple different steps, and it will remove videos if people’s images are used without permission. With so much unmonitored time to access internet resources or stumble across pornography, what are families to do?

Of the teens who saw pornography accidentally, 18% reported that it was on social media – but no one platform stood out as the most common source, the report said. Other videos that appear to be Russian show thumbnails of young girls in bathing suits in the bathtub, and another vlog in which a young girl tells about her nighttime routine has accumulated more than 1.3 million views. To Dr. Lisa Damour, the new data isn’t a surprise. “Teenagers are exposed to pornography far more often than many adults assume,” said Damour, an Ohio-based clinical psychologist specializing in the development of teenage girls. We absolutely understand the concern around deepfakes, so we make it easy for it to be removed,” Hawkins says. “Content uploaded without necessary permission being obtained is in violation of our Terms of Use and will be removed once identified.” Hawkins adds that the dozens of videos appearing as deepfakes on xHamster, which were highlighted by WIRED, have been passed onto its moderation team to be reviewed. Update 11:30am CT : YouTube responded to the Daily Dot by reiterating that content that endangers minors is unacceptable and that it aggressively enforces its policies against videos and comments that sexualize or exploit children. YouTube also pointed to its blog post in 2017 that announced how it was toughening its policies that would make children and families safer, including “a combination of automated systems and human flagging and review to remove inappropriate sexual or predatory comments on videos featuring minors.”

If you don’t know where to start, Damour recommended something like: “I know that kids often end up seeing porn online. Here’s what I want you to know if that happens to you: The intimacy depicted in porn is rarely the loving, tender, mutual intimacy that characterizes a healthy love life. If you do end up seeing it, please know that I’m here to answer any questions you might have.” One commenter linked a time stamp where the girl nearly showed her undergarments and instructs viewers to slow down the video to .25 of its normal speed. Although both cisgender boys and cisgender girls reported having seen pornography at a similar rate, 52% of cisgender boys reported doing so on purpose while 36% of cisgender girls reported the same, the data showed. (Cisgender is defined as a person whose gender identity aligns with their sex at birth.)