Please be careful with Instagram

[KfordMum1977]

Please guys, just be careful with what you post on Instagram, or what your children are posting if they have an account. Make sure all your accounts are locked down safely. I have been truly horrified by the comments i have seen this week made towards very young, underage girls.
Granted, some have public pages for publicity (gymnasts/child models etc) but seriously my stomach has been turned.

What do you mean ‘underage’ girls? Underage for what?

Why do adults need to be careful?

Children shouldn’t have Instagram anyway.

As horrible as it is, there is a certain breed of parent who specifically seeks that sort of attention for their child because it pays. There is a specific genre of competitive dance, or more like specific choreographers, who nobody will convince do not know exactly what they are doing, and the sad thing is that everybody else will follow because it gets the most views and therefore money.

I mean if you are posting photos of your kids etc.

And by underage, I am saying that over the last few days i have seen sexual comments made towards 9 year olds, whose accounts are parent ran.
I know kids shouldnt have social media, but the fact is... They do.

Just please check.. If your children have it, just make sure they are all set to private and check who they have as followerers.

@lukasiak

You are completely correct. My mind has been blown that these photos/accounts are out there. By the parents.

100% agree. My 13 year old cousin told me a stranger sent her a dick pic the other day. Plus a lot of kids seem to deliberately keeptheir accounts public for followers

The child modeling pages are awful, full of pervy men commenting how sexy they are etc. I reported loads of comments! Instagram decided not to take action! They are just as accountable

Dontcoughonme

Thats exactly what i have discovered. I have reported hundreds this week alone. I have now starting to report the peoples accounts as spam. I dont know if its doing any good but... Im trying!!

Yanbu it is everywhere.
A famous youtuber discovered time stamps in the comments section on YouTube videos of young gymnasts or ballerinas, Pewdipie.
Paedophiles time stamping the part they found exotic to save other paedophiles watching the entire clip.

Oh my god. This turns my stomach. My kids don’t have Instagram or twitter or fb or any of that stuff. Having previously sat them down and explained there are some monsterous people out there , and that they can’t stop negative feedback either, they have taken decision not to. That, and until they were old enough I wouldn’t allow it. Sick world we live in.

YABU. Sorry, I don't really understand this post. Yes, all social media has risks and needs to be monitored, particularly for young children. It's good that you're paying attention but to be honest, I find it odd that this hasn't been top of mind already. DS has been getting lessons in protecting himself online since he was about 5. You are writing this post like it's a bit surprise. It's not.

My DH went to school with someone who was recently convicted of possessing paedophilic images, altering images of peoples children that he got online and trying to sell this child online. He seemed 100% normal. He had access to pictures of friends babies on social media.

All social media is public in some shape or form. People who have .... alterier motives .... for using social media can easily get access to pictures of children on adults accounts or teenagers accounts. The only way to keep paedophiles or people who say and think pretty disgusting things from having access to kids photos is to simply not post them.

Vile obviously. However I think it is well known that the SM platforms that attract young kids will, and do, attract those wishing to harm to them. It isn't 'just' instagram. TikTok is virtually famed for it.

Parents who allow their children of that age to have an account, when there are age restrictions on them need to think about why they're acquiescing to it really and what is more important. To do so little research about 'is it safe' to allow a child to post public images or profile pictures is pretty negligent when (on IG) they can't comment or see them at all if it is a private account, and you can divert messages from accounts that don't follow you into a separate folder. Set the profile pic to something generic and I can't see how or why anyone like that would DM at all.

OP you can and should always report the accounts but don't report them as spam, report them as being inappropriate/placing a child in danger. There are options for this on the 'report's bar. Since an account for a child of that age isn't allowed, your own is just as likely to be removed, which says it all. There is a reporting option for this also, for anyone who suspects a child under the threshold age is using IG, and an option for parents to report their own child if underage and using it without permission, to have it removed.

Yes it's awful. Youtube paedo timestamps are why so many family channels have had their comments disabled by default. I can't imagine being a kid growing up in public eye since nappies, everyone they meet being able to watch their whole life online, so creepy.

The reason that i am posting is just ro make sure that people are being careful.

I have a friend who is 11, and just last year was being groomed. Now yes, i dont believe she should have had her own account, and i certainly wouldnt allow my young children to have one. What i am saying is make sure you are keeping your own accounts private as these predators can take your childs photos and distribute them. So if i am being unreasonable, so be it.

With regards to reporting them as inappropriate, you would not believe what comments against a child IG believes are not violating their rules, which is why i reported them as spam.

I just want everyone to stay safe and keep their children safe.

On insta there is an option to report an under 13 kid's account, I had to google it as it's not so easily visible. I reported when a woman I follow (250K followers) made an account for her swim star son aged 9, full of in tiny swim trunks! It got removed. She made a new one anyway "run by mum" this time.

Yanbu with your concerns but YABU to post about it like it is breaking news. Anyone with any ounce of internet safety knows this, and has done for years. I'm 30 and we had classes on internet safety when I was at school and i know my DD does too.

Online is lethal. DD met a friend through roblox and animal jam. The new friend was popular she was doing a give away for animal jam on tiktok she picked DD. DD doesn't make tiktoks she is very shy
They asked could they share discord links.
I organised a Skype call with the DC and her DM they were same age both on the spectrum into cosplay anime etc.
DD never met anyone with so many shared interests after a few weeks she became withdrawn the other DC wanted to be girlfriends, then she said her parents beat her and she was going to commit suicide, DD desperately begged this girl for a week not to do it before she told me.
Her DM wouldn't answer the phone I contacted the gardai with her name, description, school address DD blocked her but it has fecked her up.
I thought I took all precautions.

I can't imagine being a kid growing up in public eye since nappies, everyone they meet being able to watch their whole life online, so creepy.

I really think something more needs to be done to protect minors from this. I used to follow a blogger (until I realised what was happening and became too horrified) who posted all kinds of pics of her children, everyone knew where they lived and details of their lives, they even had one fan travel and ask to meet the children. Some pics of her friend's child were taken and used in an online scam. Many people pointed out the risks but when a parent is getting their creative and financial needs met by doing this, sometimes unbelievably they don't care.

melj1213
I find that a weird thing to say tbh. I understand that people are aware, but my point is that what I have seen over this last week also shows that a lot of people are not.

I am 43, and im fairly proficient on a PC, but there are many people who are not. Or wouldnt know to look at security. I have never been officially taught online safety, because when i was at school, they were not big deals then

I have at no point said that this was breaking news.

Why the fuck are parents posting pictures of their 9 year olds on the internet. Of course the comments made are inappropriate but how about not posting the photos in the first place. Geez.

Well clearly some parents aren’t bloody careful (or are just oblivious) because they keep doing this! So it may not be ‘breaking news’ but it still needs to be said.

As for the pervs 🤮

I think many people stick their head in the sand about who is online and looking at their photos. Like my previous post said, the case I knew had his own SM account with friends from school, and he had access to their pictures of their kids even though they had their profiles on private. To be honest, you never know what people are like, even the people you have as friends on your own private aocial media accounts.

I refuse to have my DD on the internet at all. She is 20 months. Nobody is allowed post pictures of her. Some people think I am OTT, but say I let my MIL post something, I have no idea who she is friends with, and then who they are friends with if they are tagged the post etc. Its endless. My DD doesnt exist online. That way, I know for sure she isnt in some weirdos collection

Unfortunately there are parents who literally build their ego and earn their 'wage' by monetising their children online, Google their five year old and you get thousands of results. When people point out that the pictures may be misused they are labelled haters. I remember one person objecting to a particular picture in the context of misuse by paedophiles and the mother responding, 'thanks, but that doesn't worry me'.