Posting pictures of your children playing in the pool or your baby getting a bath is usually harmless. One organization, however, is warning parents of the dangers behind this innocent action.
The Child Rescue Coalition warns that common hashtags are used by child predators. The organization has published a list of over 100 common hashtags that pedophiles search to find photos of children. The hashtags include: #bathtime, #kidsbathing and #pottytrainingfun.
The organization is based in Florida, and it rescues children from sexual abuse by building and providing technology to members of law enforcement. They stated that 90 percent of children have been posted on social media by age 2.
According to the organization, 89 percent of parents do not check their privacy settings, and this leaves your children’s’ photos open to predators.
“With pedophiles frequently browsing common parenting and child-related hashtags on social sharing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we have to be extra careful in the content we are sharing and the information we are providing in conjunction with those photos and videos,” the coalition’s website stated.
According to the organization, location settings are “one of the most dangerous device settings of all.” This setting gives predators a general idea of where they can target children.
The organization wants parents to ask themselves questions before they share.
The questions are:
- Why am I sharing this?
- Would I want someone else to share an image like this of me?
- Would I want this image of my child viewed and downloaded by predators on the Dark
Web?
- Is this something I want to be part of my child’s digital life?
“Once you’ve posted your child’s photo, you can’t have total control over it, so think twice about sharing something that may seem cute or innocent,” the coalition said.
To see the full list of hashtags, click here .
