Two students from a Melbourne high school have been suspended after sexually explicit, AI-generated images of female students were shared online.
Gladstone Park Secondary College principal Veronica Hoy earlier this week confirmed a number of photos of students from the school had been inappropriately edited and shared online and in group chats by Year 11 students.
Detective Sergeant Simon Garner said that up to 60 students could be impacted by fake nude photos of them circulating on social media.
An investigation by police also resulted in a 16-year-old boy being arrested on Friday and interviewed by detectives. He has since been released pending further inquiries, police added.
Police were first alerted to the matter on Thursday afternoon.
In an update on Friday, Garner said he found the incident “quite disturbing, quite despicable”.
“The images are quite vulgar. Whether they be children, adults, anybody. No one likes to have their images taken and manipulated in such a way like this,” he said.
Garner said police were still working through how many students had been caught up in the incident and officers were yet to speak to the two suspended students.
Gladstone Park Secondary College has taken appropriate disciplinary action and has offered support to any students who need it.
In a statement to parents earlier this week, principal Veronica Hoy said the incident was “misogynistic and disrespectful”.
“Further, please be advised that the sending of real or fake nude images of people under the age of 18 is a crime,” Hoy said.
The Department of Education and Training Victoria said the behaviour was “unacceptable in any Victorian school”.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan described the incident on Friday as “appalling” and “outrageous”, saying that it breaches trust and respect.
“It has no place in any room or any community in our state. Young girls and women deserve to feel safe and respected in the classroom, in any room, in any community across our state,” Allan said.
Police said investigations are still ongoing as they provide support to identified victims, their families, and the school.
“We’re urging any members of the public, if they see these images online, could they let us know,” Garner said.
Even though the images are not real, they are considered child abuse material meaning the person who created the content and others who shared or received it could face serious consequences.
In June last year, new laws were introduced to parliament making it a criminal offence to share non-consensual, digitally created sexually explicit material.
“This insidious behaviour can be a method of degrading, humiliating and dehumanising victims,” Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said at the time.
“Such acts are overwhelmingly targeted towards women and girls, perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes and contributing to gender-based violence.”
A person found to have shared these kinds of images can face up to six years in jail, while the person who created the image carries a higher penalty of seven years in jail.
It’s not the first time Victoria Police have investigated the online distribution of sexually explicit, digitally edited photos of female students.
In June, AI-manipulated images of about 50 teenage girls at Bacchus Marsh Grammar were shared online.
It’s understood images of students — believed to be between Years 9 and 12 — were taken from their personal Instagram accounts before being manipulated using AI to make “obscene photographs” that were then shared across multiple social media platforms.
A 17-year-old boy was issued with a caution in relation to allegedly circulating the explicit Bacchus Marsh images online.
– With Molly Magennis