Abstract

Synthetic media now presents an ambient risk in the lives of minors, who encounter manipulated images and videos in school and peer environments marked by high exposure, developmental sensitivity, and limited institutional safeguards. This review synthesizes research across three interconnected domains: prevalence, detection, and regulation. Survey and measurement studies indicate that exposure to deepfakes is widespread and that image-based abuse often remains hidden due to underreporting and covert capture. Technical work shows that detection systems deteriorate under real-world conditions such as noise, compression, and adversarial manipulation, while institutional workflows struggle to respond at the pace at which synthetic content circulates. Legal and regulatory frameworks in Italy, the United States, and China provide uneven and incomplete protection, with limited child-specific safeguards. Drawing on these literatures, the review introduces a conceptual triangle model that illustrates how exposure, technical fragility, and regulatory delay reinforce one another and amplify harm for minors. The analysis identifies persistent gaps and outlines priorities for empirical, technical, and legal research needed to strengthen protection for young people.

Download

Share

COinS