Digital Consent: Photos, Screenshots and AI-Edited Images

Educational information — not individually medically reviewed. This guide was drafted with AI assistance and edited for SafeBody.talk using the public sources listed below. It cannot assess your situation. For personal advice, speak with a qualified health professional.

In short: before posting or forwarding a photo, screenshot or video of someone, ask. Consent is specific and can be changed. Creating, sharing or threatening to share intimate or manipulated images of someone — including AI "deepfakes" — is abuse. If it happens to you, it is not your fault, and support exists.

Asking before you share

Agreeing to have a photo taken is not the same as agreeing to have it posted, and agreeing to one post is not agreeing to every use. Screenshots of private messages count too. A simple habit: "Is it OK if I post this?" — and accept "no" or "actually, please delete it" without argument. Consent is specific (to this image and this place) and can be withdrawn.

Pressure, threats and image-based abuse

Healthy relationships don't involve pressure to send photos. Warning signs include repeated asking after you've said no, guilt-tripping, "everyone does it", or threats to share something unless you do what someone wants.

Image-based abuse includes sharing intimate images without consent and using AI tools to make fake sexualised images of real people. UNICEF has been clear that deepfake abuse is abuse, and that harm to children from AI-generated sexual images is real even when the image is fake (UNICEF, February 2026). Laws differ by country; this guide does not describe any specific legal system.

If it happens to you

Calm next steps

• It is not your fault. The person misusing or threatening is responsible.
• Do not pay, and do not send more images. Paying rarely ends threats.
• Tell a safe, trusted adult or professional — a parent or caregiver, teacher, counsellor, or a helpline. If an adult close to you is part of the problem, choose a different trusted adult or a child-protection service.
• Note details where safe: usernames, profile links (URLs), dates and the text of threats. Do not keep, download or forward sexual images of anyone under 18 — not even as evidence. Let professionals guide evidence.
• Report and block with care. Most platforms have reporting tools. Blocking can sometimes prompt a reaction, so it can help to get support first.

UNICEF's guidance on cyberbullying also explains reporting tools and why talking to someone you trust matters.

SafeBody.talk will never ask you to upload or send images, and please don't share them in Hope AI.

About Take It Down

Take It Down is a free, international service from the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). It is for nude, partially nude or sexually explicit images or videos taken when the person in them was under 18 — you can use it even if you are an adult now. It works by creating a digital "fingerprint" (hash) on your own device; the image itself stays on your device and is not uploaded. Participating platforms can use that fingerprint to find and remove matching copies.

It only works on participating platforms, and it cannot promise to remove every copy everywhere. Check its own FAQ for current details. It does not replace reporting to local police or child-protection services where that is safe and appropriate.

Kenya-specific: Childline Kenya (116) and other contacts are on our Emergency Help page. Elsewhere, use your country's child-protection or police reporting services.

If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number now. Kenya-specific: see Emergency Help for national helplines such as Childline Kenya (116) and the GBV line (1195). Outside Kenya, please use your local emergency, child-protection or health services.

If it happens to a friend

Believe them, don't forward or view the image, and help them reach a trusted adult or service. You don't have to fix it alone. Read more in Boundaries Without the Guilt.

Frequently asked questions

Answers to common questions are below.