02/01/2021
I'm sharing this important information again. Social media safety is a must! Keep our kiddos protected from predators.
Just last week our Aftercare Team was contacted about an 11-year-old little girl who was exploited on the well-known app, TikTok. She was bored and trying to connect with peers in the outside world. She posted videos throughout her whole day including herself singing in the shower. By the end of the day men began asking her for sexual pictures.
She did not understand why they were asking her for things like this because she did not connect the idea that adult men would be paying attention to her videos. When traffickers get pictures or videos of young children they can sell the images within a day to thousands of people throughout the world without ever leaving their homes. We are grateful to local government agencies like Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) that we can refer families to.
Sexual exploitation can happen without a child even leaving their home. We encourage all to learn about the grooming process and tactics of predators online to prevent them from exploiting more children.
Check out our internet safety guide: https://ourrescue.org/blog/internet-safety-guide/