Deep fakes, a new technology, can make bullying and online abuse worse for kids. Here’s what parents need to know.

In March of 2021, a Pennsylvania mother was arrested for cyber harassment. She is accused of creating “deepfake” photos and videos of three members of her daughter’s cheer squad engaging in drinking, smoking, and posing nude. You might have recently seen a fun and very convincing deepfake video of Tom Cruise on TikTok. 

When I saw the Tom Cruise deepfake on TikTok, I knew this technology had become accessible enough that it would now be used to cyberbully, defame, and threaten people online.

The story behind the cheer mom’s cyberbullying is all too familiar. The three victims had a falling out with her daughter, and she wanted them kicked off the team. What makes this story different is the use of deepfaking technology. ‘Deepfaking’ is the process of doctoring an existing image, but it is more sophisticated than Photoshop because it uses a form of artificial intelligence. The mom allegedly created the deepfakes by ‘mapping the victims’ social media photos onto other images to make them look real. She then deepfake images of the three victims to the team’s coa ...