I work at Instagram & there’s a horrific reason you should NEVER post your kids online – the risks are greater than ever
BEING a parent in the digital age can be tricky to navigate – knowing what to post and when to can be difficult.
Thankfully, mums and podcasters Zoe and Georgia have sat down with the experts to find out exactly what to do.
The mums who host the podcast Made By Mammas sat down with Instagram’s Tara Hopkins and ParentZone’s Vicki Shotbolt to reveal their top tips to safeguarding children online.
Tara Hopkins who is the global director and public policy leader for Instagram while Vicki helps run a charity on keeping kids safe online.
But some of the answers the mum got had left them stunned, Georgia said: “The thing is, this is all new to everybody and we’re all just muddling through trying to work out what we feel comfortable with.”
Zoe revealed that she asked if they should show kids’ faces online and was left shocked by the answer she got.
The mum revealed she regularly shared her children online and that it was the centre of the podcast when she and Georgia first started – but now times were changing.
She added that the answer had stayed with her and was now covering her child’s face on her social media channels.
Now the pair have revealed safety issues concerning kids online and it’s not just what people can see – it’s what people can make too.
AI TECH
Vicki revealed the reason she was so against having children be displayed online, and it was all down to the new technology of AI.
She said: “Any image now that is online can be taken and manipulated by AI to look and appear in a different way to how you originally shared it.”
At the thought of what could be done with children’s photos, Zoe said she ‘felt sick’.
Vicki added that the issue was that once a photo had been posted online, you cannot draw back consent to have it fully removed.
Discussing her own pictures being uploaded, Vicki recalled a hungover photo of her being posted online by a friend and thinking ‘you didn’t ask’.
And the same goes for children, she says who give no consent to their parents, and are unable to when they are so young.
Georgia went to ask what the real dangers were with posting children online, and while Vicki calls herself a tech optimist, she said when it does go wrong in the digital world, it really goes wrong.
How to keep kids safe online
As we navigate the digital world as parents - UNICEF have offered five top tips to help keep your children safe online.
- Have honest conversations with your children about who they communicate with and how, and who can see what they post online., Explain that anything that goes online – pictures, videos, comments, things they share with others and what others post and share with them and about them – leaves behind a trail of information about them. To make sure they’re leaving a positive “digital footprint”, they should be mindful about what they do and say online.
- Check that your child’s device is always updated and running the latest software, and that privacy settings are on and configured to minimise data collection so that people don’t see any information that you don’t want them to see., Help your child learn to keep personal information private. If your privacy settings are not secure, anyone can see your information., Keep webcams covered when not in use. For younger children, tools such as parental controls like safe search, can help keep online experiences positive.
- Create opportunities for your child to have safe and positive online interactions with friends, family and you. Connecting with others can be an excellent opportunity for you to model kindness and empathy in virtual interactions., Help your child recognise and avoid misinformation and disinformation, age-inappropriate content and content that can potentially cause anxiety or other harm. Introduce them to trustworthy sources of information.
- Promote positive online behaviour by practising it yourself. Be mindful of the example you set and what you share online about your child, including their photos and videos., Encourage your child to be kind online and to support friends and family by sending positive messages or emojis., If they have classes online, encourage them to be respectful of others and to be mindful of what can be seen on camera to maintain privacy.
- Spending time online can be a great opportunity for your children to be creative, learn, use their voices to share their views and support causes that are important to them., Encourage your child to use resources on the internet to help them get up and get moving, like online exercise videos for children and video games that require physical movement.
She noted the increase of child abuse images online were ‘horrifying’ and that AI was making it worse.
In fact, the number of child sexual abuse image crimes recorded by UK police increased by 25% last year, according to data obtained by children’s charity the NSPCC.
“I’d hate to scare anybody, but the risks now because of AI are greater than they used to be,” revealed Vicki.
Tara also agreed with the sentiment saying it was ‘an incredibly difficult space to be in.’
Visibility
On Instagram, Tara revealed a great way for children to be safe online was to create a private account over a public one which anyone can see.
A private account enables you or your child to accept or not accept people to see their content.
She also recommended using the Close Friends feature on the app which lets you send videos and photos available for 24 hours to the people they choose to share it with.
Tara also recommended covering children’s faces with stickers or emojis before setting the photo live on Instagram to help protect them.
“There’s lots of different ways to do it,” said Tara.