AIBU to ask grandparents to fully remove our child's photos on social media? With the recent developments in AI

[anotherdayanothersnack]

With the recent warnings over AI i want the 15-20 photos our child has had posted of them on our grandparents fully removed from social media. They have take a few down but thinking of asking for their phones to make sure all are fully removed as I do not think they know there is some in the all photos albulms. Photos are from birth to about 2.5 years old.

Their profiles are private so the risk is minimised but still not fully gone.

Are we being over the top asking for their phones to help fully remove the remaining? We have sent them the news article on the recent developments with AI so they understand.

Just got a feeling we might be taking it a bit too far? But at the same time very concerned with what people can potentially do with photos now with AI.

Been worrying ourselves after reding this news article. How concerned is everyone else with a few photos on private profiles? Is anyone else taking steps? https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/03/ai-sexual-abuse-fears-uk-parents-warned-posting-images-children-national-crime-agency

Has anyone also used facebooks removal process if so how did it go and do they ask anything extra? This is the form https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/516343134409068

What exactly do you think AI is going to do with those images?

Surely if AI wants to make images of child abuse, it has enough already.

What they are doing is taking the faces of children (and adults). Creating absolutely vile, porn content and then blackmailing people in to paying up or else will release the videos online or spread them on their social media.
Can you imagine how awful a child would feel seeing an image of themselves being raped. That also very sick fucks in this world.

To clarify:

the grandparents have posted images over a period of time that you were happy with then, but you now want them all taken down?

just email/phone and ask them to take them down,

yes, asking for access to their phones to do it yourself is too much (especially as a first request)

Yes that disgusting, but I'm completely with the none on public sites, but to go through someones phone to remove the images is over the top

Just wondering if you have you seen this wrt safeguarding @Saeris?

It's

Should give you pause, at least, especially if you have children.

If it's been on the internet it will have been scraped and saved by now. And no one is getting those back.

Doesn't really help OP, but it's something to bear in mind.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable to ask them to taken them down and ask they don’t upload any others going forward.But asking for their phones is a step too far.

I would think about sharing the NCA guidance itself with them rather than coverage of it.

Tell them that there are photos still remaining and offer to help them delete. You can't demand their phones.

Thats really good - thank you for sharing

People should attach that to any requests for removal of images.

Isn’t the advice in that article that you make accounts private? Which you say they have already done. So surely they are already complying with the guidelines. Demanding their phones is unreasonable.

Just for anyone reading this thread: this has already been happening for many years, its not a new thing. Its part of the reason experts will warn against sharing photos of children on social media.

Will you be covering your children’s faces when out in public? People might be wearing meta glasses, taking photos, videos, cameras, security cameras, restaurants etc have cctv

but thinking of asking for their phones to make sure all are fully removed

Kindly, you are being completely ridiculous and that would be very rude.

Unless you keep your child at home at all time, their face will end up on social media anyway. Other parents take photos of videos of THEIR child on the school run/ supermarket/ park/ beach/ softplays and your child will be in the background, and not all these parents have private settings.

I even took videos of my kids at the swimming pool even if you are not really supposed to do that, and most people do too. I just don't put them on social media, but others will.

The new meta glasses mean you won't even know your child is being recorded, and parents won't be able to stop recordings at school anymore.

Yea I was going to do this approach but tell them more than happy to do it for them if they dont want to go through it all. My wording on that part was not very clear

That isn't something I can control. What I can control is the choices I make myself. The chances of a stranger intentionally filming or photographing my children in a meaningful way are much lower than something that's entirely within my control.

It's a bit like saying I might as well smoke a cigarette in my child's face because someone walking past on the street might blow smoke in their direction. Those aren't equivalent situations. One is a deliberate choice I make, while the other is a possibility that's outside my control.

I do not who is on their friends list or if any of those accounts have been hacked

I think that given the world we live in we need to look for a sensible compromise without descending into total paranoia.

It's fine to not splash your kids over SM , but it's extreme and somewhat unrealistic to demand that no photos of them exist anywhere at all, not even on trusted family members' phones. If my GC parents demanded my phone to delete images of the kids that I had privately saved I'd think there was something seriously wrong with them. Don't you trust them? What do you think they are going to do with the images?

Like PP have said, anyone can take photos anywhere and you have no control over it. That's just life now . SM isn't going anywhere. We need to be vigilant and careful without becoming hysterical.

YANBU at all. My dh is an ex police officer and I'm on a safeguarding role. The daft stickers over faces are easily removed and AI can use faces to create animated videos. It's hideous. No excuse for sharing children's images on social media isl media anymore. It's just attention seeking.

Of course you can’t demand their phones. In the kindest way, who do you think you are to go through their possessions at your whim?

Surely if they are still online you will be able to see them and point them out without infantilising them and being extremely controlling.

Yes of course, that's absolutely fine. There's no reasonable reason for anyone to post photos of other people online.

If their faces are not available, how would the stickers be "removed"? The AI would simply make up a face, it wouldn't be the original image.

Fine to make the request and want to keep your children offline for as long as possible.

Absolutely not fine to go through their phones.

You can’t ask for their phones 🤣🤣🤣

research it, the face underneath is not "removed", it's still there - it's simply getting rid of an extra layer. No need to make up a face, the original face is still there.

Okay but the chances of a stranger hacking into your parents private social media account are higher?