Deepfakes created and shared by middle school students on Yandex

The combined situation

Middle school aged students have created AI deepfake intimate imagery of a fellow student, typically circulated through messaging apps, gaming platforms, or social media. This combination of minor victim and minor perpetrator triggers the most aggressive child protection responses available. When this scenario plays out on Yandex specifically, removal proceeds through the statutory takedown process under 47 USC 223a combined with the scenario specific response that school cases require.

Why this combination is high risk

Yandex Images has historically had weaker filtering than Google or Bing, and surfaces results that are deindexed elsewhere. This makes Yandex a critical second pass for any NCII removal effort. For middle school deepfake cases, middle school aged users have widespread access to free or low cost ai nudify apps that are marketed without adequate age verification. the apps frequently allow upload of any image regardless of subject age.

How removal proceeds

Yandex accepts removal requests through its abuse contact at copyright@yandex-team.ru. Yandex Images is particularly important because it indexes adult content that Google and Bing exclude. Minor victim cases receive the highest priority response from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Removal across major platforms is typically completed within 24 hours.