How school girl's brave act after ultimate humiliation set in motion Trump crackdown on vile school yard crime
When a teenage boy made fake nude photos of a group of girls at his school and posted them online in October 2023, the school claimed there was little they could do.
Some of the victims at Aledo High School in Texas were so humiliated by the crime, and by the lack of action, they transferred to other schools.
But one of the group, Elliston Berry, just 14 at the time, wasn't prepared to take what had happened to her sitting down.
She enlisted the help of US senator Ted Cruz to force social media companies to take down the images after they initially refused.
The women didn't even know who was behind the vile attack until Berry filed a Title IX investigation, which is the formal process used to make sex, harassment, or violence claims against their schools.
Berry's brave actions two years ago - she is now 16 - will see her stand next to Donald Trump at the White House as he signs the first federal law in the coming weeks punishing those who use AI to make deepfake pornography.
The landmark 'Take it Down Act' will make it a crime punishable by jail terms of up to three years and fines determined by the court for those those who create naked photos release them without consent.
The law also requires social media companies to take down 'deepfake' images within 48 hours.
'When this first happened, everyone was kind of at a loss, especially when we brought it to the school board,' Berry, who is still at Aledo High School, told DailyMail.com.
'No one really knew what to do. No one had really heard of this issue. That's why it's so important the "Take it Down Act" has finally passed, because we finally have that backboard and handbook to help others.'
Berry has also been invited to Capitol Hill twice by First Lady Melania Trump to garner support and awareness of the 'Take it Down' Act.
She will never forget the moment she realized innocent photos she'd posted to Instagram had been transformed into fake nudes of her at just 14 years old.
'When I saw it, I thought, 'That looks completely real. This is not my body, and it looks so real,' the sophomore explained.
'It really was shocking how someone was able to...take my clothes off completely, all using AI, and completely manipulated the entire photo.'
She had no idea who'd created the images. Then similar fakes of her friends were shared online.
'It happened to my entire friend group. So day by day, he posted more of my friends, and ultimately, just exploited by whole friend group,' she said.
When she appealed to the school to find out who had done this to her, they refused to tell her, citing his privacy.
'They didn't know what to do, so we were stuck trying to fight for ourselves. We filed a Title IX investigation, which ultimately lead to us knowing the identity of the person.'
Months after she was first targeted, Berry learned a classmate she has known since 8th grade and once gifted her a Bible was behind the AI-generated photos.
Berry shared her story while lobbying with the First Lady for a bill that would make it a federal crime to post revenge porn and deep fakes online
'Honestly, we were friends,' Berry said. 'He had given me a Bible and we had conversations about the Lord and things like that, so when this first happened, I was shocked he would even think of me in a sexual way.'
The boy was placed in-school suspension, Berry said, before he transferred to another campus.
'None of us ever got an apology. We never learned why he did it. We still have no idea.'
Berry and her friends were the unfortunate victims of a vile new crime that is spreading through schools like an out-of-control wild fire.
She's been contacted by students from across the Lone Star State, sharing their own experiences with AI deepfake porn.
'It's honestly been really healing to be able to help others and honestly try my best to prevent this from happening to anyone else,' she said.
'I can take what he did and I can make it into something good.'
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