Don’t post pictures of your kids on social media, it’s more dangerous than you think

One of the vices that social media has left us with is the idea of ​​sharing your life through images or videos. What you probably don’t know is that those family party photos you posted on Facebook could end up in the hands of a pedophile. A study by the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) showed that most of the materials seized from the aggressors are everyday images of minors.

As reported Chain BE, 72% of the material in the hands of pedophiles is non-sexualized images of boys and girls.. Attackers download content from family albums and other legitimate sources. Some parents often document their children’s lives, not knowing that this content will end up on the computer of a child pornography addict.

“We have the idea that people who collect images of child sexual exploitation are only collecting very serious images,” said Irene Montiel, professor of legal and political sciences at the UOC. “But the reality is that there are non-sexualized images of boys and girls in the double offender collections.” This class of aggressors is the most dangerous, as they commit sexual abuse of minors.

The study mentions that 89% of families share their children’s content once a month on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.. With babies, the figure is alarming, as 81% go online before they are six months old. Parents posting pictures of ultrasounds, births, or first steps not only violate the future digital identity of minors, but also put them at risk.

Social networks, allies of pedophiles

While some social networks such as Facebook or YouTube claim to have anti-pedophilia mechanisms in place, they are not enough. In February 2019 A. youtuber exposed it YouTube algorithm recommended videos of half-naked minors. The content was visible to everyone, and the comment section was full of nasty phrases or links to child porn sites.

The company responded new rating system to detect and remove predatory comments. Similarly, YouTube disabled comments on most underage videos that could attract bullies. Unfortunately, this measure was temporary and applied to several content creators.

A few months later, pinterest was at the center of a hurricane after an investigation found that the social network is a paradise for pedophiles. algorithm offers pictures of sexualized minors and allows comments from older men. In response, the company removed some profiles and message boards, promising to add the ability to report sexual images.

The responsibility lies with the parents.

The automation of social media moderation systems has made it impossible to use an effective system against pedophiles. While we could point to Mark Zuckerberg and other managers, the responsibility for minors lies with the parents. It is they who should define guidelines for what content is published on the platforms.

The data provided by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya study clearly show that bullies choose everyday content. Photos from a visit to a museum or park may seem normal to you or your family, but not to the pedophile who collects them on his computer hard drive. Before posting photos of your children on social media, think about the risks involved.