The advancement of powerful AI technology is transforming the very nature of our digital spaces. This presents a challenge for DSLs, who are required by KCSIE to understand online threats and protect students from them. With this in mind, Smoothwall has put together 'Emerging Challenges' - a series of quick reference articles to help safeguarders understand the key digital safety trends they need to know.
This article covers deepfake cyberbullying - a modern form of bullying that utilises AI technology to achieve highly targeted and distressing results.Deepfakes are digitally manipulated forms of media (usually images, videos or audio recordings) that have been doctored to replace one person’s likeness with that of another. There are a range of online apps that can create highly convincing deepfakes at the touch of a few buttons.
For example, you could input a video of someone doing a silly dance and a video of one of your friends into an app, and create a video that appears to show your friend performing the comical dance. While this may seem harmless or slightly amusing, in the wrong hands, deepfake technology can be used to devastating effect.
As well as being incredibly harmful, creating sexual content depicting a minor is a criminal offence, and the Online Safety Act has made the sharing of deepfake material illegal. Despite this cyberbullying using deepfake technology surged at the end of 2023, and is likely to continue.
The highly realistic and personal nature of deepfake content can result in severe implications for victims and their wellbeing. If deepfakes are given time to proliferate, it can be difficult to remove all instances of them from the internet. As a result, their existence can have a long term impact on a student’s digital footprint, potentially affecting their job opportunities, future relationships and mental health.
A related problem for schools is the rising trend of deepfake content targeting teachers. Global cases involving deepfake attacks on school staff have heightened concerns about duty of care and the ability of schools to maintain safe psychosocial environments for teachers.
Support the development of responsible digital behaviours through digital citizenship lessons that target new and emerging trends
Educate students about the ethical use of technology and the consequences of harmful content creation, including the legal implications of deepfake cyberbullying
The nonprofit organisation Common Sense provides a range of free digital citizenship lesson plans for years 1-13
Encourage students to report any deepfakes they encounter
Establish processes that enable students to do so easily and without fear of repercussions - for example, schools can set up online forms that allow pupils to report incidents anonymously
Implement digital monitoring that offers context and real-time alerts
Utilise wellbeing platforms to foster a school culture that promotes respect and empathy
Solutions that offer weekly mental health check-ins give schools a valuable insight into wellbeing levels across the student body and highlight individuals who may be struggling as a result of incidents like cyberbullying