Police are conducting a major investigation at a high school in Sainte-Thérèse after the discovery of numerous hyper-faked images showing completely naked teenagers, courtesy of artificial intelligence.
“It’s so trivialized,” immediately says preventionist-investigator Eric Huard, of the Régie intermunicipale de police Thérèse-De Blainville (RIPTB). Young people find it funny and say to themselves that it doesn’t matter because it’s not a real image. But it’s so well done that it can have lifelong repercussions for the victims, who don’t find it funny at all.”
Preventionist-investigator Eric Huard of the Régie intermunicipale de police Thérèse-De Blainville (RIPTB).
Ben Pelosse / JdeM
The investigation, which began at the beginning of February, has so far led to the arrest of five teenagers from the same secondary school. One of them could potentially face charges of producing child pornography since he used a fake application (deep fake) in order to create obscene images with real faces.
So far, police have been able to identify around ten victims, both boys and girls. They are all minors and students at the same high school as the perpetrator of the crimes.
Far from taking the situation lightly, the Thérèse-De Blainville police met all the people who shared the photos, around fifty young people.
Several of them could also face criminal charges, namely possession and distribution of child pornography. When the investigation is completed, the file will be submitted for analysis to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).
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Awareness by parents
But in the meantime, the police are urging parents and schools to do more to make adolescents aware of this growing problem.
They can also tell their child to immediately delete any such photo they receive and not to save or share it.
Ideally, a report should also be made to the police.
“For the young people we met, it was total incomprehension,” said Officer Huard. They never thought it was that serious, let alone that it was criminal.”
Indeed, the Criminal Code provides a very broad definition of what child pornography is in Canada, so much so that hyperfaking can very well fall within this definition and the author can suffer the same consequences as if he had shared a real nude photo of his underage partner.
“This is what parents must make their children understand,” insists Agent Huard.
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Self-harm and suicide
For DPCP prosecutor Joanny St-Pierre, who coordinates the Consultation Committee against the fight against the sexual exploitation of children on the internet, the impacts on victims when a photo is hyper-falsified are the same as those experienced when a real intimate photo is distributed.
Me Joanny St-Pierre, provincial coordinator of the Consultation Committee against the fight against the sexual exploitation of children on the internet for the DPCP.
COURTESY DPCP
“It lasts for the rest of their lives,” said the lawyer. Victims experience constant fear that people have seen the photos, that the photos are still in circulation, that they will be recognized in the street, among other things. It’s not their fault at all, but they all experience shame. The impacts are major and can go as far as self-harm and suicide.”
As do their counterparts elsewhere in the province, the Thérèse-De Blainville police have been giving conferences in schools for several months to raise awareness among young people of this problem.