LANCASTER, PA – A small community and elite private school was rocked after it came to light in May 2024 that two male students had created 347 explicit deepfake photos and videos of 60 girls.
Nearly two years later, the victims shared their stories in court, highlighting the long-lasting trauma and wide-ranging impacts of deepfake abuse.
On Wednesday, March 25, the two male former Lancaster Country Day School students were sentenced on felony counts of sexual abuse of children (manufacturing child sexual abuse material) and criminal conspiracy to commit that offense.
Many of the victims read statements in court, with several referring to one of the boys as a former close friend. One victim called him her "best friend," saying he betrayed her trust. The victims said the boy had taken photos from social media, photos taken at shared parties, and even screenshots from FaceTime calls, and passed them along to the other boy, who used artificial intelligence to morph them into pornography. One victim said she was just 12 years old in one of the photos the boys used to create a sexualized deepfake.
Deepfake abuse is a growing problem at schools across the country, but experts warn that school policies, legal recourse and education lag far behind. That's especially problematic for the often underage victims of this abuse – 90% of which are women – as studies show these deepfake nude images can have wide-ranging and long-lasting consequences.
