Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals! For it is necessary that scandals come, but woe to the man by whom the scandal comes! (Mt 18:6-7).
Growing awareness about the connections between social media and sexual exploitation has led to greater pressure on the tech industry. In 2017, Pope Francis spoke to social media companies urging them to use “their great profits” to defend children from sexual exploitation and other dangers lurking online” adding that “social media businesses had to do more than set up filters and algorithms to block harmful content”. The pope said it is a mistake to think that,
automatic technical solutions, filters devised by ever more refined algorithms in order to identify and block the spread of abusive and harmful images, are sufficient to deal with these problems.
As more parents and pro-family organizations protest the multi-billion pornography industry our kids are vulnerable to, a number of social media and tech platform companies have been forced to respond.
New safety measures and privacy controls have been implemented by several social media biggies, each representing a major victory of accountability.
In 2019, a Vatican conference on “Promoting Digital Child Dignity” brought companies like Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Microsoft Corp, and Facebook together with child protection groups and law enforcement and judicial officials. Pope Francis appealed to the companies:
There is a need to ensure that investors and managers remain accountable, so that the good of minors and society is not sacrificed to profit.
I make an urgent appeal to them to assume their responsibility towards minors, their integrity and their future.
Chromebook, which is made by Google and is given to over 40 million K-12 school kids, will now include age-based access settings, simple step parents have been asking for. In addition; SafeSearch and SafeSites will be on by default, eliminating the possibility of either searching for or coming upon pornographic material. Another new change is that students can only view YouTube content that’s been assigned by their teachers. They cannot use their school account to post videos or comments or to live stream. This too limits kid’s access to general YouTube content that can include pornographic material.
Enough is Enough (EIE) is a national organization that works to make the internet safer for children and families. After numerous appeals from EIE including a petition, as well as citizen pressure, Apple has agreed to greater protection for kids by matching photos on iPhones and uploaded iCloud accounts to a database of child sexual abuse images. Any matches will mean alerting the appropriate authorities.
Because predator’s prey where kids play, it is encouraging that Big Tech is becoming part of the solution, and not part of the problem, by proactively and voluntarily implementing child safety and privacy features,” said Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO of EIE. Actions speak louder than words. Setting safety defaults to private not only protects kids, it empowers parents. These long-overdue protections to prevent exploitation represent a step in the right direction. However, there’s much more work to be done. Accordingly, Enough Is Enough and our NGO partners will continue to advocate for additional actions to build upon these recent developments.
Public pressure has also resulted In another big victory. The pornography site XTube has been shut down. This is a win for those who have been victimized and exploited as well as for families who’ve suffered the repercussions of their kids or young adults viewing such content. MindGeek owned and operated the site, and unfortunately continues to operate and profit from PornHub. The company is the subject of a petition urging the Department of Justice to prosecute child pornography, trafficking, and obscenity. You can sign the petition here.
EIE also reports that the OnlyFans site has agreed to cut sexually explicit content and that TikTok has agreed to add privacy protections. No longer will 13-15-year-olds receive push notifications after 9 p.m., and 16-17-year-olds after 10 p.m. Also, teens from 13-17 will have direct messaging disabled by default. Children under 16 will not be able to send or receive direct messaging at all.
Instagram accounts for kids under 16 will now be made private automatically. Posts will only be visible to people they allow to follow them. However, in spite of this positive step, Instagram is still planning an under-13 app. an irresponsible and dangerous idea. The incidence of young children being the target of sexual predators has been on the rise. Children are simply not equipped to handle the obstacles and challenges they come across on social media while sending and receiving photos and other content. Now, EIE has joined 44 U.S. attorneys asking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to abandon these plans. You can add your name by signing the petition here.
Apple has agreed to test a new system to automatically match photos on iPhones and uploaded iCloud accounts to a database of child sexual abuse images and alert authorities as needed. However, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation NCOSE
Suggestions include enabling parents to control iMessage deletion while their young children are learning to use technology responsibly; creating an accurate, accountable app rating system that includes strict requirements to prevent sexualized ads in 4+ and 9+ apps; and closing the loopholes that allow .kids to easily circumvent Apple’s current parental controls, prevent the sending/receiving of nude photos to children under 16 – not 13; enforce app store rule. For example, Twitter and Reddit break Apple’s own rules with violent and pornographic content, yet their user agreements allow children ages 13+ to join.
The organization urges concerned citizens to be aware of facts related to this critical issue:
- Predators Prey where Children Play
- During Covid, reports of online enticement of children increased by 97%
- 40% of kids in grades 4-8 are communicating with strangers online regularly
- Parents are the first line of defense to protect children online and must ALWAYS implement both commonsense measures on EVERY internet-enabled device and online platform
Both organizations emphasize: Do not share any identifying info about your child if you post photos on social media. Often at the start of a new school year, moms and dads want to share first-day photos with relatives and friends. Think first. Do not share identifying details about a child when you post on social media, including:
- Age or birthdate
- Address (either written out or easily identifiable in a photo)
- Name/Location of School/Teachers (this includes clothing showing school name)
- Sports/hobbies that point to locations where your child spends time
- Location sharing/”Check-Ins”
- Child’s e-mail or phone number
- School uniforms
Also, be sure to set social profiles to “private” or “friends” mode only.
Much more needs to be done to protect children from predators and pornography, but these victories are a step in the right direction.
1 thought on “Protecting Minors Online”
Pingback: SATVRDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit