Parents asked to keep an eye on kids online during summer months

By Lethbridge Herald on June 20, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

With summer break just around the corner and children having more time in their hands to spend it online, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT)’s Internet Child Exploitation unit is warning parents of the emerging online trend of “deepfakes” involving artificial intelligence.

Mike Tucker, spokesperson for ALERT, says they are reminding parents of the role they play in their children’s safety online. 

“We know that over the summer we typically see more online usage from children, and we are warning parents, because we have seen an increase in an emerging trend related to the deep fakes and the use of AI in child sexual exploitation materials,” says Tucker. 

He explains that sometimes that manifests in students taking the image of a classmate and using AI to generate child exploitation materials. 

“Whether or not that’s a form of malicious intent or a form of bullying, it’s happening,” says Tucker. “The technology is catching up with the ability to do this, so we want to make the public aware and make parents aware of this trend.”

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection defines a deepfake as “video, images or audio recordings that look or sound completely realistic but have been altered using AI. Faces can be super-imposed, expressions can be manipulated, and separate elements can be combined to produce something entirely new … commonly used to show someone doing or saying something that didn’t do or say.”

The ALERT ICE unit created a community engagement team in 2024, which has provided 64 online safety presentations this year to parents and caregivers across the province, in an effort to educate and prevent future cases of online exploitation.

The community engagement team encourages parents and caregivers to talk to children about their online activities, build trust so they feel safe about coming to you if something happens online, take an interest and learn about their interactions on the platforms they use, show vulnerability to help create a safe space and ask questions about their online apps, games and friends.

Anyone with information on any child exploitation situation is asked to contact their local police, or to report their concern anonymously to Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-TIPS).