James Bulger's mother criticises 'sick' AI clips of murdered son - BBC

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James Bulger's mother criticises 'sick' AI clips of murdered son - BBC

Image source, PA Media Image caption, James Bulger was aged two when he was abducted and killed by two boys in 1993 The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, whose killing shocked the UK in 1993, has told a newspaper AI-generated clips of her son were "beyond sick". The videos, on TikTok, showed an animated version of the two-year-old talking about his fatal abduction by two 10-year-old boys. Speaking to The Mirror, Denise Fergus had called for the clips to be taken down from the social media app. TikTok said the videos had since been removed for violating its guidelines. James Bulger had accompanied his mother to a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, where he was lured and abducted by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, then aged 10, in 1993. His body was found two days later on a railway line, after he had been horrifically abused and tortured by the boys. Later that year, Thompson and Venables became the youngest children ever to be convicted of murder in England. The AI clips on the social media app showed animated characters, including one representing James, detailing the case and showing an avatar by the rail tracks. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Denise Fergus said the videos were "not fair on the people who have lost children" The clips were part of a series on Tik Tok showing AI-generated versions of missing or murdered children, including Madeleine McCann, who disappeared while on a holiday in 2007. Others showed the cases of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was mistakenly shot dead by a gang member in Liverpool, and Peter Connolly, also known as "Baby P", who died after suffering a series of injuries. The Mirror reported that some of the videos, which were often voiced in American accents and also had Spanish and French versions, were viewed tens of thousands of times before being taken down and they appeared with no content warning. Ms Fergus told the newspaper that the clips were "disgusting". "It is bringing a dead child back to life. It is beyond sick," she said. She said she had "not got a problem" with reporting the cases, "but to actually put a dead child's face, speaking about what happened to him, is absolutely disgusting". "To use the face and a moving mouth of a child who is no longer here, who has been brutally taken away from us, there are no words," she added. "It is not fair on the people who have lost children, or lost anyone. We are not just saying take James down, we are saying take it all down." "Who can sit there and think of such a thing?" she asked. Image source, REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Image caption, TikTok told the BBC the videos had been taken down and there was "no place" on the app for such content Her husband, Stuart Fergus, contacted one producer of the clips, who appeared to be in the Philippines, and asked for the videos to be removed. He received a reply saying they "do not intend to offend anyone" and wanted to ensure similar incidents "will never happen again", along with a request to support and share their page. Mr Fergus told The Mirror: "I don't think these people understand the upset they are causing." He added that he had reported the videos to TikTok, but he did not receive a response. "Companies like TikTok should be held accountable. When you report it, things should happen. But it doesn't." In a statement to the BBC, a spokesman for TikTok said: "There is no place on our platform for disturbing content of this nature. "Our Community Guidelines are clear that we do not allow synthetic media that contains the likeness of a young person. "We continue to remove content of this nature as we find it." TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, told the BBC it had taken action against accounts which had posted the videos. Although the app's user base has expanded in recent years, it is still most popular with teenagers and users in their 20s. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram ? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]

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