"Anyone who wants can even create a naked image from a photo of a face."
Intimate photographs, sexually explicit messaging, blackmail using personal images – all of this has long ceased to be an issue exclusively for adult internet users. Today, children are also facing such situations. In fact, sometimes as early as elementary school age.
This is evidenced by the results of a large-scale study "Czech Schoolchildren in the Online World 2025," prepared by specialists from Palacký University in Olomouc. More than 42,000 schoolchildren participated in the survey, making it one of the largest studies on children's digital behavior in the Czech Republic.
One of the topics of the study was online aggression. Insults and mockery in chats and comments remain one of the most common forms of conflict among teenagers today.
Moreover, the results of the study were surprising even for the researchers themselves. "I was surprised that among the forms of aggression, verbal aggression was the most common. And I was even more surprised that, in this regard, girls turned out to be more aggressive. I expected boys to attack more often, but the study showed the opposite," said Voraček.
According to the researchers, such conflicts often occur in closed chats or social networks among classmates and can quickly escalate into cyberbullying.
The consequences of sharing intimate content can be much more serious.
Sexting as Part of Communication
Sexting is the exchange of intimate messages, photos, or videos over the internet. For many teenagers, such actions become part of romantic communication.
The research shows that such situations occur much more frequently than is commonly believed.
"Among thirteen-year-olds, about eight percent admitted to sending sexually suggestive photos. This percentage gradually increases. Among seventeen-year-olds, this figure reaches almost 32 percent," said Voraček.
According to educational projects dedicated to online safety for children, teenagers often perceive such actions as a manifestation of trust in relationships. However, they rarely consider that images can be saved, shared, or used against them.
Experts note that adults often underestimate the scale of the problem. For many teenagers, digital communication is a natural part of their social life, and the boundary between private and public space on the internet may seem less obvious.
One of the most dangerous consequences of sexting is sextortion – blackmail using intimate materials.
In consulting projects like StopOnline, specialists regularly encounter such cases. Teenagers seek help after strangers start demanding money or new photos, threatening to distribute already obtained images.
The scenarios of such situations often develop according to the same pattern.
According to Dominik Voraček, sometimes a teenager only needs a few hours of correspondence with someone posing as a peer. After exchanging intimate photos, it turns out that on the other end is not a girl at all, but a scammer who starts threatening to send the images to parents and acquaintances.
According to specialists, such cases can have serious psychological consequences for teenagers. Many are afraid to confess to their parents and try to solve the problem on their own.
A New Threat – Artificial Intelligence
Another alarming trend in recent years is related to the development of artificial intelligence technologies. Today, there are applications capable of creating fake images of naked people based on ordinary photographs.
"In recent years, we have observed that tools of artificial intelligence are increasingly being used – unfortunately, including to 'undress' children in photographs. At first, I thought that the victims would mainly be girls, but it turned out that among boys, the proportion of such cases is even higher."
According to the researcher, boys become aggressors in both cases – towards both girls and their male peers. Images created by artificial intelligence can look very realistic and spread on the internet as if they were real.
"Anyone who wants can even create a naked image from a photo of a face: generate a body and add the face to it. As a result, you get an image that can already be considered child pornography."
Experts warn that such technologies make the problem significantly more complex: even if a child has never sent intimate photographs, a fake image can still appear online.
When Parents Create a Digital Footprint
Specialists also draw attention to the publication of children’s photographs by their parents. As noted by Palacký University researcher Dominik Voraček, sometimes the problem lies not so much in the behavior of children as in that of adults. This refers to the phenomenon of sharenting – the practice of parents posting photos of their children on social media.
Child online safety expert Kateřina Vokrouhlíková points out that many parents do not consider the digital footprint they create for their children. Photos once published online can spread much wider than adults anticipate.
Despite all the risks, specialists emphasize: it is impossible to completely isolate children from the internet. Social networks have become an important part of their daily lives.
As researcher Dominik Voraček notes, demonizing social networks is not the way to go. It is much more important to establish clear rules for their use with children and explain the possible risks.
Open conversation about why it is not okay to send intimate photographs, share passwords, or trust strangers online plays a key role.
Researchers plan to continue studying the digital behavior of teenagers. The next part of the project will focus on another new phenomenon – how children interact with chatbots and other artificial intelligence systems.
