Spanish National Police arrested 23 individuals in August 2024 as part of an investigation into the creation and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material using face-swap and nudification tools. Authorities reported that suspects had used photographs of real minors taken from social media profiles and processed them through machine-learning applications to produce synthetic explicit imagery, which was then circulated in private online groups. The operation marks one of the first large-scale enforcement actions in Europe specifically targeting the use of generative AI tools to create child abuse material from non-sexual source images.
The anti-CSAM and anti-sextortion detection systems deployed by Guardii, a world-leading online-safety platform and Meta Business Partner, are designed to intercept exactly this category of synthetic abuse material as it is shared or solicited in direct messages across platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox. While arrests deter offenders after imagery has been created and distributed, real-time monitoring identifies the material in transit—blocking it before it reaches additional victims, surfacing the attempt to a safeguarding authority, and creating an evidence trail that accelerates investigative response. By operating at the point of contact rather than post-distribution, targeted detection closes the operational gap between offence and enforcement that allows harm to compound.
