ShareWithCare: Telekom raises awareness about responsible use of children's photos on the Internet

We like to share common experiences easily digitally. Pictures from holidays, family parties, school trips or weekend getaways: emotional moments that we want to share with friends and family. This is often done too carelessly. The problem: Once published on the Internet, the pictures and often other personal data are available worldwide and indefinitely.

Deepfake spot raises awareness about the issue of “sharing”

With the campaign "ShareWithCare" wants Deutsche Telekom raise awareness about the responsible use of photos and data. The communication begins with the oppressive deepfake stain “A message from Ella. With the help of a family, he addresses the consequences of sharing children's photos on the Internet. Telekom draws attention to so-called “sharenting” – a much-criticized practice in which parents share photos, videos and details from their children's lives online.

The film stages and exaggerates a social experiment that could have been done in exactly the same way – because the technology for it has long existed today. The image of a 9-year-old actress named “Ella” served as the basis for the case. Using the latest AItechnology, a deepfake of the girl was created. Deepfakes are videos, images or sounds artificially generated by machine learning. In the video, you can see how the “adult Ella” addresses her surprised parents. She sends a warning from the future and confronts mom and dad with the consequences of sharing pictures of their children on the internet. This is special: For the first time, an almost aged deepfake of a 9-year-old child has been created so that she can act and reason like an adult woman. Ella represents an entire generation of children.

“Sharenting” promotes identity theft

Every person, including a child, has the right to decide for themselves their digital identity. But studies show that by the age of five, the average child has 1,500 images of themselves online—uploaded without their consent, by the people they trust most: their parents. And experts predict that by 2030, two-thirds of all identity theft cases will involve sharing. By carelessly sharing children’s images online, guardians risk inadvertently exposing children to data broker profiling, hacking, facial recognition, pedophilia, and other threats to integrity and security.

Digital literacy is an integral part of digital participation

For all people to be able to participate in the digital world, it is essential that they can act safely, independently and fairly in the digital space. Digital competence is an integral part of digital participation. That is why Deutsche Telekom is committed to promoting digital literacy with many international initiatives. Another important aspect is to promote media literacy among parents. This also includes the management of images, information and data on social media. To support parents in protecting their children's integrity and minimize digital risks, Telekom and its partners offer several offers: