[imagesource:youyube/deutschetelekom]

A new ad campaign warns against sharing pictures of your children online, showing the horrifying consequences that could follow your kids right into adulthood.

Created by telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom, the video ad has gone viral for its dark warning, already racking up over eight million views on TikTok, per PetaPixel.

It reveals just how easily a child’s image can be manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI), delving into the story of nine-year-old Ella, a girl made with deep fake technology:

Like many parents today, Ella’s mother and father regularly post videos and photos of their young daughter on social media.

However, Ella’s parents have never considered how their daughter’s future could be destroyed by “sharenting” — the common practice of parents sharing photos or videos of their children online.

The haunting ad explains how children whose images are posted online could fall victim to identity abuse, deepfaked scams, and child pornography among other crimes.

AI Ella was created using just a single photo of the nine-year-old girl that her parents shared online:

Research shows that an average five-year-old child has already had about 1 500 pictures uploaded online without their consent by their parents.

Meanwhile, Adweek reports that some studies have estimated that by 2030, nearly two-thirds of identity fraud cases affecting a young generation will have resulted from “sharenting”.

Last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg caused a stir across social media when he posted a family portrait on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)

He’s obscured the faces of his two older children with emojis, while his infant’s face is not covered, proving how the Tech mogul is well aware of how his elder children’s faces are developed enough to become recognisable by strangers online and by facial recognition software.

Best practice: don’t share images of your kids online, and if you do, cover them up with emoji.

[source:petapixel]