Are predators targeting your kids on social media?

You may have heard of the creative video social network called musical.ly. You’ve probably even sang along or created a short video on the app, but its all fun and games until your child’s safety is at risk. Most recently, there was an event where a pedophile had reached out to a 7-year-old girl on the creative, musical app, posing as a 9-year-old girl and asking this child to send nude photos of herself. Awful, right? Incidents like this happen every day, and with our children on these various social media platforms, it’s important to teach them how to be safe online. If you want to learn more, check out the segment on Fox 11 Los Angeles news to hear safety advice on the social media your kids are using. How do you keep your children safe online? 

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Here is what you need to know about how to avoid online threats: 

  1. We know, parenting in the digital age can be hard, but parents need to take an active role in their children’s internet experience and start a conversation about the different apps they’re involved with. Ask them if they know where the privacy settings are. Filter any private information on their profile, including school logos, last names, phone numbers, or anything identifying their location.

  2. Make sure your children only allow their friends to see their accounts. Although it may be cooler to have more followers, it’s important to know who each of your followers are, as some may pretend to be someone they’re not.

  3. If someone is posting inappropriate comments on your child’s picture, cyberbullying, or simply doing something they don’t like, show your kids where the “block” and “report” features are.

  4. Other parental controls include knowing your children’s passwords to their accounts and checking their social media regularly. Unfortunately, 1 in 4 children have seen porn by the age of 12, so it’s important to check internet history logins as well.

Please leave a comment below if there is a specific app that you would like to know more about and how to navigate the privacy settings. 

Jessica Naziri1 Comment