The American "Baby Gaga" website published a report in which he spoke about the risks posed by creating an Instagram account for your child.
The site, in its report translated by "Arabi 21", said that parents love to talk about their children and share developments about their achievements, daily activities and their beautiful costumes. With great reliance on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram to keep in touch with friends and family, parents are accustomed to uploading photos, videos or other types of content about their children online.
The site reported that a study published in 2016 on the "The New National Review" showed that parents usually post about 116 pictures of their children on social media. While we can understand the behavior of proud parents when they share with others how happy they are with their new baby and how lucky they feel, a set of risks may arise from sharing your children's pictures online, and your behavior can put them at risk.
According to the FBI, thousands of children each year fall victim to online surveillance, including young children and infants whose parents publicly post pictures of them. Below are some of the ways your child might be compromised in cyberspace.
Digital hijacking
The site indicated that kidnapping is the worst nightmare for parents, and kidnapping can happen even without your child being physically kidnapped. This process includes stealing pictures of children and babies by strangers, and then using and publishing them on their accounts as if they were pictures of their children. It is worth noting that a number of similar incidents occurred in 2014 on Instagram, where users talked about their experiences with their children, and in some cases, they impersonated the child and interacted with people on that basis.
Online watchdogs
The site explained that the Internet is crowded with stalkers looking for children to defraud them. They not only target older children who are able to chat online and play games, but sometimes even children under the age of one year.
The site stated that an investigation conducted by the Children's Electronic Safety Commission in Australia found that there are sites dedicated to sharing images of child molesters that publish and share pictures of children taken from social networking sites. In fact, child molesters publish a set of photos of children and infants, which contain abusive comments, taken from the accounts of their parents. Manipulation occurs even with images that appear innocent and include sexually explicit texts.
Pay attention to what you share
The site reported that the previous reasons are only one of the reasons that prevented some parents from sharing their children's pictures online or creating pages on social media, while others continue to share their children's pictures in a limited manner. First, you need to make sure that you are not publishing personal information that spammers can use to locate your children. So check if there is any information on the Internet that could give the detective an idea of your address or your children's school.
Moreover, simple things like school uniforms emblems or the names of streets and identifiable landmarks in the background of the image can indicate any viewer on your child's location.
The site indicated that you can change the privacy settings of your account to make sure that only people in your friends list are able to see your kids ’photos and videos. You should always be sure to share your kids' pictures or videos only with the people you trust. However, some parents believe that sharing these photos with the people you trust may also be risky, as their friend's phone can be stolen or their accounts compromised, so hackers can view children's photos on their social media account.
The site stressed the need to think about the possible risks that your child may be exposed to before deciding to post a photo or video of him on the Internet. In recent years, the Internet has become a dangerous space not only for adults but also for young children. Remember that children depend on their parents to keep them safe and ensure their well-being at all times, and this includes protecting their privacy online
It is a warning to parents who used to display their childrens photo on social media.