Websites
Overview
Guidance from the UK Safer Internet Centre warns that AI tools are being used to manipulate images of children for both blackmail and exploitation. They advise schools to urgently review the photos they publish online. This article explains how to reduce risk while keeping your Juniper Website welcoming and engaging.
You do not need to remove all images from your website. The goal is to be intentional about what you share and how.
Risks
Publishing images without care can expose your school and pupils to serious harm. The main risks are outlined below.
- Images of children can be taken from school websites without permission, for example, through automated web-scraping tools. After they are taken, images can be shared without consent or manipulated using AI tools, including apps that generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
- Misused or manipulated images, particularly AI-generated CSAM, can be used to blackmail schools or individuals (pupils, parents and staff). Blackmailers may threaten to share images unless money is paid.
- Sharing images of children without proper consent can create serious safeguarding risks. This is particularly important for vulnerable groups, for example, Looked After Children. Images can also expose personal information or location data, putting children at a greater risk.
- Images can contain hidden metadata that reveals sensitive information. Losing control of this data can result in privacy and data protection breaches.
Before you publish an image
Before uploading any image to your Juniper Website, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this image necessary?
- Does the image add genuine value, or is it filler?
- Is the parental consent you have current and specific? (Generic media consent from previous years may not cover website use. Make sure you review your consent forms).
- Could this image be misused? Avoid close-up facial shots, images showing name badges, and solo portraits.
Audit your existing images
To review and reduce risk across your Juniper Website:
- Review all images currently published on your website to ensure that they do not contain identifiable information.
- Remove any images that are outdated, unnecessary, or high risk (pay particular attention to solo facial photos).
- Replace any images that you need to remove with group or activity shots, or alternative angle shots where possible.
- Review and archive any old news posts that may contain out of date images.
- Apply privacy settings to limit who can view and share content, where appropriate, for example, using secure pages.
- Remove any meta data from websites (for example, EXIF data) that may reveal location, device details or timestamps.
Update your consent process
Outside of Juniper Websites, follow these steps to make sure your consent approach is current:
- Review your existing consent forms to confirm they cover website use specifically.
- Update forms so parents understand where images will appear.
- Make it easy for parents to withdraw consent at any time.
- Communicate your updated approach to parents. Make sure you explain you are following national safeguarding guidance in response to evolving online risks.
Best practices
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Use the table below as a quick guide when selecting images.
Lower risk Higher risk Group activity shots Individual portraits Distance or wide-angle photos Close-up facial images Images without uniform or name badges Identifiable uniform or name badges visible Action shots showing hands or movement Static, posed photos - Use low-resolution images where you can. Low-resolution images are harder to manipulate.
- When adding ALT text to images, describe the activity rather than naming individual children, for example, Year 4 science experiment. Ensure that you do not disclose any information, for example, a pupil or staff member's name that makes them easily identifiable.
- Review the guidance provided at Protecting your setting’s images from AI manipulation and abuse (UK Safer Internet Centre).
Next steps
After you have audited your images and updated your consent process, set a reminder to review your website images regularly, for example, at least once per academic year. If you are unsure whether an image is suitable to publish, leave it out.
Related information
Updated