Protect & Prevent - What the heck is a "nudify" app and why should you care?

In August 2024, the Million Kids research team came across an article that discussed a case where five 8th grade boys in a Beverly Hills Middle School were expelled for creating and sharing deep fake nude photos of female classmates. In this situation, the students accessed “nudify” apps and used the software programs to super impose the faces of their classmates on images that were nude or sexual in nature.

The article indicates that this case follows a series of similar incidents involving students creating and sharing AI-generated nude photos of their fellow classmates at high schools around the world. The article went on to state that a New Jersey teen victim spoke about her experience in front of federal lawmakers in Washington, DC to advocate for a federal law criminalizing all nonconsensual sexually explicit deep fakes. No such federal law existed.

Subsequently, President Donald Trump recently signed a bill proposed by First Lady Melania Trump called the “Take it Down Act” to create federal legislation making it a crime to create a deepfake that depicts an individual’s identity but is altered to create a fake image that is nude or sexual in nature.

As our research team began to explore the situation in Beverly Hills, it was noted that the middle school students had accessed "nudify" apps that provided the software to alter real life images and create nudes, sexually explicit or pornographic images. As we researched this situation, we were all surprised to find out that there are 60 such "nudify" websites offering a wide variety of services including super imposing others facial image to anime, pornography and Hentai (anime porn). Many of these sites offer their services globally and make it easy to use and access even for middle school students.

Parents, it is important to have a conversation with any young person who has access to the Internet. Share with them that when deepfakes are created, not only is it illegal to do so, it is extremely harmful to those victimized. Now that federal laws are being implemented, the consequences for the offenders using these sites to exploit others could be life altering. It is critical that young people understand that while it may sound like fun, they are also accessing pornographic sites that gather information about the users, and they could expose themselves and their families, to individuals and organizations that will not have their best interest at heart.