Case japan-npa-classmate-deepfakes-minorsDeepfake abuseJapan
Japanese police: classmates made over half of sexual deepfakes of minors, many from school photos
Japan's National Police Agency received 79 consultations about sexual deepfakes of under-18s from January to September 2025, and fellow students made them in 53.2% of cases, often from school event and yearbook photos. Cases included a junior high boy referred to prosecutors for defamation and junior high students taken into protective custody over deepfakes made from photos on school tablets.
HighHarm caused by AIStatus: OngoingVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Sep 1, 2025
- Location
- Japan
- Target
- Elementary, junior high and high school students in Japan
- Severity
- High
- Verification
- Confirmed by victim, vendor or authority
- Triggered by
- Mainly classmates and older schoolmates (not named)
- Actor type
- Unknown
- Sector
- Education & research
- Reported loss
- None reported
- CVE
- None
What happened
Japan's National Police Agency received 79 consultations about sexual deepfakes of under-18s from January to September 2025, and fellow students made them in 53.2% of cases, often from school event and yearbook photos. Cases included a junior high boy referred to prosecutors for defamation and junior high students taken into protective custody over deepfakes made from photos on school tablets.
Impact: 79 cases in nine months, 41 involving junior high students; 4 people arrested or referred and 6 minors taken into custody
Who triggered it
Actor: Mainly classmates and older schoolmates (not named)
Attribution: National Police Agency data
Motive: Harassment and bullying of peers
How it happened
Attack vector: Generative AI and image-editing apps applied to school event, graduation album and social media photos
Root cause: Child pornography law assumes a real child is depicted, making deepfakes hard to prosecute
Timeline
- Tottori Prefecture amends ordinance to ban making sexual fake images of children
- Yomiuri reports police cases of minors deepfaking peers from school photos
- NPA data: 79 cases in January to September 2025, 53.2% made by schoolmates
Response
NPA studied about 10 popular image-generating apps; police used defamation and obscenity laws; Tottori Prefecture banned making sexual fake images of children in August 2025
Current status: Ongoing
Sources (open in a new tab)
- Adnkronos (Jiji Press) english.adnkronos.com
- Asia News Network (Yomiuri Shimbun) asianews.network
Cite this case
Japanese police: classmates made over half of sexual deepfakes of minors, many from school photos. AI Threat Watch, case japan-npa-classmate-deepfakes-minors, Sep 1, 2025. https://aithreat.io/cases/japan-npa-classmate-deepfakes-minors/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/japan-npa-classmate-deepfakes-minors/
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