CDC Says 1 in 6 U.S. Teens Faced Cyberbullying as AI Deepfakes Escalate Abuse
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 9
CDC Says 1 in 6 U.S. Teens Faced Cyberbullying as AI Deepfakes Escalate Abuse
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 9
Summary
More than one in six U.S. high school students experienced electronic bullying in the past year, while a WHO study found 15% of adolescents were targeted and 12% admitted bullying others online.
Pew’s 2026 data shows roughly three-quarters of teen TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat users see harassment as a problem; nearly 3 in 10 Snapchat users said they had personally faced abuse.
AI tools are worsening the threat by making fake nudes, cloned voices and impersonation accounts easier to create and spread, turning a single post into lasting humiliation or sextortion.
NCMEC received more than 400,000 CyberTipline reports tied to generative AI in 2025 and identified over 275 direct victims of AI-generated child sexual abuse material across 2024 and 2025.
The report urges parents and grandparents to keep ongoing conversations open, save evidence, block and report accounts, review privacy settings and avoid treating 'delete the app' as a complete solution.