AIBU to think he should ask before using granddaughter's photo?

What a strange comment. Older people exist. Why can’t someone in their 70s have a boyfriend or girlfriend? I wasn’t aware there was an age limit on it. What do you want her to call him? ‘Partner’? ‘Special Friend’? If they’re going out, he’s her boyfriend.

The thought of my grandkids faces being shown in porn pics turns my stomach.
It may not physically harm them and they wouldn't be aware, but it could come back to haunt them when they were older, depending on where the child porn ended up.

I would never post their pics on a public forum or use them where people other than close family and friends had access.

But nobody is saying keeping photos private removes every possible risk, or that posting a photo means something bad will definitely happen.

It simply gives strangers another source of identifiable images of your child that they can copy and manipulate. If those photos weren’t publicly available, they couldn’t obtain them from your social media.

And I think you’re massively overestimating people’s ability to distinguish fake content from real content. Ofcom found that while 69% of adults said they were confident they could identify misinformation, only 22% could correctly identify the signs of a genuine social media post without making mistakes. Their research on deepfakes found only 9% of adults felt confident they could identify one. A 2024 study of more than 86,000 people found people identified AI images correctly only around 53% of the time, essentially no better than randomly flipping a coin.

Technology is also becoming more realistic, not less.
I also don’t think there’s any basis for suggesting AI child sexual abuse material makes real children safer because offenders can use that instead of grooming them. Abuse isn’t a fixed amount of demand that can simply be diverted into AI. Fake sexual images of a real child can themselves be used to humiliate, bully, threaten or exploit that child.

Parents can absolutely look at the risk and decide they’re still comfortable sharing photos. That’s a personal judgement and up to you, of course. But saying posting identifiable photos publicly creates no additional risk at all, or might actually protect children from grooming(!), is a very different claim and I don’t think the evidence supports it.

But that could and does happen regardless of where the photos come from. And I think you underestimate people, everything we see online has to be questioned as to whether its real or accurate and I would that hope that people would do that. Me posting photos puts my kids at no more risk. In fact you might argue that it puts them at less risk of being groomed as these people can make their disgusting stuff with no actual contact with any child.

I’m not trying to be combative but I’m struggling to see how you can’t see the potential risk.

Just one example - imagine if your grandchild is a tween / teen and discovers that realistic sexual images bearing their face are being shared around school, uploaded to pornographic forums or passed around by strangers. “But everyone knows AI exists” is hardly going to make that experience inconsequential to them.

It could still result in humiliation, bullying, harassment, blackmail and enormous distress. It’s still extremely disturbing and upsetting. And it’s avoidable while our children are young enough to not have their own social profiles.

Yes agreed, it is actually weird.

You literally said “why would they need to steal them?” which to me read as you saying they weren’t being stolen. I think most people would read it that way tbh.

Totally innapropriate. Hes putting his adult childhood in awkward position by making them having to confront your bf.

Show him this thread and hopefully he will reconsider his ignorance.

I think you're being deliberately obtuse, but whatever.

It's incredibly easy to use photos like those you're posting for others to generate content. That content might be monetized, it might be offensive, it might be pornographic.

I'm with you. My profile pic is of me and my adult son. If some pervert turns him naked or worse, how does it harm him? He wouldn't be embarrassed. He hasn't done anything wrong. No one has access to his soul by accessing his picture and his picture is in the public domain all over the place, like everyone elses.

How can it cause harm? What will happen to my relative? Does it need stopping? Of course it does but me not posting photos of myself or my family on Facebook will not stop it. The only way it could be stopped by the general public is by everyone going round with masks on or not leaving the housr. Anyone wearing a pair of glasses can be filming or secretly taking photos of anyone around them. If they want to they will, photos on social media put someone at no greater risk. If my relative has a disagreement with someone? What has that got to do with AI images? They could do that with or without my online posts! I am not behind the times or uninformed, I am very informed but as of yet, no one has told me how me posting photos is any more risky than someone filming my kids going to the shop or a theme park or playing out on the street.

With AI, people can make fake videos using your kids or grandkids' faces.

Say your relative has a disagreement with someone and fake video of them doing something offensive or criminal shows up online. All images can now be manipulated. How would you feel about posting images that have been used and manipulated in ways you are ignorant about to cause harm for your relative?

It's a terrible idea and frankly, a lot of old people are behind the times and uninformed. "It's just me bring proud of my grandkids" can turn into online bullying or much worse.

I know some people who use a dead parent or their own kids, I find that weird, but this on a different level, but fine if they are in the picture with the account holder.
Is he trying to chat to other girls of a similar age?

I have children and grandchildren, tell me, what is the risk? Someone makes a fake image/ video.....its not real, my child isnt being abused so what is the risk to them? Obviously making these images is illegal but I cant do anything to stop that, that is down to police and governments. People know nowadays that 80% of what you see online is manipulated content so, although I obviously see the problem with child abuse I dont see that me posting photos of my kids makes that any worse or more risky

Where did I suggest that it wasnt happening? I said it makes no odds, if a paedo wants to they can get photos from anywhere. They can steal from social media or they can take their own, what difference does it make?

@CatA27If you have children please do take the time to read some of the advice around this subject.

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/new-guidance-for-parents-and-carers-as-ai-manipulated-images-of-children-become-a-growing-concern

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/03/ai-sexual-abuse-fears-uk-parents-warned-posting-images-children-national-crime-agency

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7wj7d0jzzo

https://www.iwf.org.uk/resources/ai-child-abuse-imagery-parent-guide

Sorry are you suggesting that people aren’t using images of children on social media to create AI generated child sexual abuse material?

There’s been so much in the news about it recently I’m struggling to understand how you believe that it isn’t happening?

I don't think so. I think using a photo of a 35 year old woman when you're in reality a 76 year old man is presenting yourself as someone you're not. And he's using that with other old guys and whoever he's in contact with. He may be related but they're not and there's possibly creepers among who he interacts with. It's good OP got him to switch it.

I think it's unwise to post kids' pictures online, nor is there any real privacy online. Cats, dogs, snakes, sunsets, cool.

Surely it depends on who can see your Whatsap profile in the first place.
If it's just friends and family lurking paedophiles wouldn't be able to access any of the pics shown (unless they are in that group)

Are they very ignorant? That’s awful of them. Don’t they realise what “just WhatsApp” is?

My mum has me as hers. She didn’t ask me, I don’t mind it’s just WhatsApp!

My parents have pics of their grandchildren as their profile pictures. They love them. Like seeing pictures of them. They only message other family members and friends. Don’t think they see it anything other than using a picture they like as their profile picture. They have never taken a selfie in their life though and they aren’t “phone heavy” and use it as a tool rather than attached to them.

I'd hazard a guess and say a 35 year old will have whatsapp and will have seen it. Its up to her if she's bothered. Got nothing to do with you or your comfort.

Oh please, anyone could take photos of your kids in the park on the beach, in a restaurant, why would they need to steal them?

Get a life