Two students at a private school in Santa Cruz de Tenerife stumbled across . They came across the mobile phone of a fellow secondary school student who had stepped away for a moment. They were in the cafeteria. They managed to access the device – students often pass phones around in their friend groups – they started scouring through the gallery and were astounded when they came across a group of photos. They never expected to find something like this.
They were naked minors. But not only that. At first glance, they recognized three classmates in the images. They quickly noticed that the images had been manipulated with artificial intelligence, using one of the apps that can easily create a fake nude using anyone’s face. The photos themselves contained the app’s watermark: Undress.
The commotion was immediate. The girls informed two of the three classmates whose faces appeared in nude photos on a student’s phone, they demanded explanations and showed great anger and rejection, and the matter reached the school authorities, La Salle San Ildefonso College in the capital of Tenerife, and the families of those affected. It is the first time that an educational institution in Canarias faces a situation of this nature, which could lead to a defamation lawsuit.
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The Group of Minors (Grume) of the National Police in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has opened an investigation into two secondary school students at La Salle for possessing these altered images on their mobile phones of at least three classmates, as well as three or four other unrelated minors, and sharing them through WhatsApp groups.
The two students discovered this on February 21st. After alerting two classmates they recognized in the device, they informed the school authorities, one of the most prestigious and exclusive in Tenerife, founded and managed by the religious congregation Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the Brothers of La Salle. An institution established in over a hundred countries.
The National Police, the Youth Prosecutor’s Office, and Education are investigating the case for possible defamation
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Grume initiated the investigation seven days later, on February 27th. This came following the complaint made on that day at the police station on Tres de Mayo Avenue in the Tenerife capital by the mother of one of the minors in the doctored images. She found out on the same day, the 21st, from one of the mothers and her daughter, who told her the whole story.
In the complaint, the woman states that besides her daughter, at least two other secondary school students appear from this institution among a total of six or seven minors. According to what she told EL DÍA, there would be around twenty images, all created with artificial intelligence.
One of the mothers of the affected girls who filed a complaint questions the school’s response
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The first step taken by the head of studies – later joined by the principal – was to call in the female and male students involved in the case. As narrated by the complainant to the officers and stated in the report, the minor who had the images on his phone claimed, after showing them, that another boy from the school had sent them to him.
When this other boy was called in, it could be verified that indeed he had shared them via WhatsApp. This mother who brought the case to the National Police – later joined by the families of the other two affected girls – does not know if these photos have spread from the students’ messaging systems to others, which greatly concerns her. She also doesn’t know who created these images. Both boys claim they only shared them within student groups.
The case, the first of its kind known in the islands, has been brought to the attention of the Education Ministry of the Canary Islands Government and the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors. Sources from the regional government area ensure that Educational Inspection has initiated proceedings and that the school has followed the protocol by reporting the incident to the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors, which has also opened an investigation.
The use of artificial intelligence, since the recent emergence of this computer technology, to create fake nudes through photos or videos with the purpose of damaging people’s reputation has become a headache for law enforcement agencies and the justice system. In recent months, there has been particular concern in Spain about cases like the one in Santa Cruz involving minors.
False naked images of three La Salle students and other girls appeared on mobile phones
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In this first case in the Canary Islands, the main individuals involved are secondary school students. They are between 13 and 14 years old. The first thing this mother did before going to the National Police was to meet with the officials from La Salle School a few days after the photos appeared. “I got the feeling that they wanted to downplay the situation, when we are talking about something very serious. I was surprised and indignant at the same time about what happened. They assured me that those photos had not come from the students’ WhatsApp groups and that the sharing had occurred outside school hours,” admits the accuser, adding: “I made it clear that I didn’t want to see the photos at all and that I needed to know what actions they were going to take.”
The woman couldn’t understand when the La Salle officials told her that they had asked the student who had the images on his phone to delete them and the one to whom he forwarded them, to keep them on his device. “They mentioned that they had consulted with their legal services and that they were going to report the incident to the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors,” she explains.
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But what happened next is what surprised her the most. “In the days following, I went to the prosecutor’s office to introduce myself and make them aware that I was the mother of one of the girls in those images manipulated with artificial intelligence. They didn’t know what I was talking about. They hadn’t received any communication from the school.”
La Salle’s report entered the Minors Prosecutor’s Office computer system, as stated by the mother, which she was informed by this special unit of the public ministry, the day after she filed her complaint at the Santa Cruz National Police station. She also went to Educational Inspection, where she was attended to by a staff member without needing to make an appointment. “At first, they told me I had to wait, that the inspector was in a meeting, that I needed to schedule an appointment. But as soon as I explained what happened, they attended to me immediately.”
The educational protocol in the Canary Islands requires schools to immediately report to Educational Inspection and the Prosecutor’s Office for Minors any case that could be considered an attack on the students’ privacy and honour. The Education Ministry has not clarified whether La Salle reported the situation immediately or did so after one of the mothers informed the National Police.
What has been confirmed is that La Salle has taken the required steps, Educational Inspection has opened proceedings, and there are no records of this type of incident in the schools of the islands regarding the use of artificial intelligence.
The three ongoing investigations will determine the school’s response, if any criminal acts were committed, and the extent of the dissemination of the photos. It is important to note that minors under 14 years old are not legally responsible; in other words, they cannot be subject to the Criminal Code or the Juvenile Law. They can, however, be held civilly liable by those responsible for them, in addition to any disciplinary measures taken by the school, which may include temporary or permanent expulsion.
The Education Ministry confirms that La Salle has taken the required steps, Educational Inspection has opened proceedings, and there are no records of this type
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In the Almendralejo case, there are minors and individuals over 14 among the 26 individuals under investigation for sharing altered images of 21 girls via WhatsApp using artificial intelligence. The Chief Prosecutor of Extremadura believes that identity theft through photo manipulation violates privacy and honour, which could result in criminal charges if proven.
This newspaper has tried to contact the officials at La Salle San Ildefonso School but has not received a response. The privately funded school, located on the same street in the capital of Tenerife as the religious order that manages it, provides education in primary and secondary levels. It adheres to a strict ethical and behavioural code within the educational community, aiming to “contribute to the holistic and balanced development of children in physical, emotional, social, and intellectual areas.”
With over 1,500 students just in the capital of Tenerife, it implements the New Learning Context (NLC) teaching system, “a pedagogical and pastoral framework that provides a clear organizational, methodological, and evaluative proposal, giving full meaning to the education of the individual by addressing all dimensions — emotional, cognitive, physical, social, and spiritual — throughout the different stages of development,” as stated on its website. “The student becomes the protagonist of their own learning,” concludes the description of this method employed by La Salle San Ildefonso School, one of the most sought after with a long waiting list in the Canary Islands.
