A teenage boy has been arrested after fake explicit images were allegedly circulated on social media of about 50 female students from a private school in regional Victoria.
The principal of Bacchus Marsh Grammar, Andrew Neal, told the ABC about 50 girls had been targeted.
The nude images appeared to have been created using artificial intelligence and photos of the girls’ faces taken from social media sites, then were circulated online
“[The girls] should be able to learn and go about their business without this kind of nonsense,” Neal told the ABC.
In a statement, acting principal Kevin Richardson said “Bacchus Marsh Grammar is taking this matter very seriously and has contacted Victoria Police”.
“The wellbeing of Bacchus Marsh Grammar students and their families is of paramount importance to the School and is being addressed, all students affected are being offered support from our wellbeing staff.”
He said the school has not been contacted by police regarding anyone arrested in relation to the matter.
Victoria police said officers were informed that a number of images were sent to a person in the Melton area – which is about a 15 minute drive from Bacchus Marsh – via an online platform on Friday 7 June.
Police said the teenage boy was arrested in relation to the incident, but has been released pending further enquiries.
“The investigation remains ongoing,” police said.
It comes after a student from Salesian College, a Catholic boys school in Chadstone in Melbourne, was expelled after he used artificial intelligence to produce explicit images of a female teacher.
The federal government announced in May it would introduce legislation to ban the creation and sharing of deepfake pornography as part of measures to combat violence against women.
But Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan said there was a broader cultural problem that needed to be addressed.
“It is a cultural issue across our society that for whatever reason, the standards of behaviour are not being taught to young boys,” he told Nine on Wednesday morning.
“I wish I had the answers – I don’t – but I don’t necessarily think it’s something a government or a law can change.”
“We’ve all got to chip in to try and make sure that young boys understand what it means to grow up to be a man and live by the standards that society expects.”
Technology has “supercharged” boys’ bad behaviour, Canavan said.
Image-based abuse, including deepfakes, can be reported to the eSafety commission, which claims “a 90% success rate in getting this distressing material down”.
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