04/09/2026
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
As of 1 September 2026, Studio Rainn will no longer post any images of children/minors with identifiable faces taken during shoots to my website or social media.
A recent US federal appeals court ruling found that private possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material can be protected under the First Amendment, so long as it’s deemed “fully virtual” and doesn’t depict a real, identifiable child.
I don’t accept that distinction. AI models are trained on billions of real images scraped from the internet, often without consent, and there is documented evidence that these systems can memorize and reproduce elements of the images they were trained on. I am not willing to bet a child’s image against that risk — no matter how the law chooses to define “virtual.”
I don’t live in the US. I have very few US clients. In South Africa, CSAM is illegal in every form, and it should stay that way everywhere. As a mother and a creator, I will not be complicit, even at a distance, in a practice that puts children at risk. I want to see laws protecting our children being tightened, not loosened.
There should be no quarter for any individual who possesses, distributes or creates this vile material, and making a distinction between “virtual” and “real” allows far too much grey area for culprits to claim ignorance.
If you’ve had a shoot with me and see the images have come down, please know it isn’t a lack of love for the work. It’s a duty I’m not willing to compromise on. Children are, as always, welcome in front of my lens, and know that I will endeavour to ensure they are safe in doing so.
