To think influencers lack of safety is frustrating

[Collectivethoughts]

I follow an influencer on instagram. She actually lives local to me and seems to be a nice person. However she's moved home and just done a complete home tour and put this on youtube.
She went into every single room and described where the room was. She is going to continue uploading videos around how they are decorating and furnishing the rooms. The house is very grand and lovely so I would imagine the items in the house will also be that.
She is not the only one who has done this. Mrs Hinch has previously and other influencers.
Do they not think about theirs and their children's safety. Do they not think people may try to burgle their homes. They have just given them the blue print to the home. Do they not worry they tell strangers what room their child is sleeping in, that their back garden has no fence. I just don't get it? Is money and views more important than safety?

AIBU for thinking this?

I’ve seen posts from several of some serious unsafe DIY, esp “garden kitchens” without proper heatproofing etc.

I also don’t get the security issues around the children’s faces and schools and locations- what do you think, someone is going to kidnap their kids for ransom?!?

there are privacy issues with children on social media, but security issues I imagine are as overblown as the security issues from doing a house tour

I find it very weird and invasive when influencers show their kids bedrooms. I know one who is notorious for this and her eldest is a teen now. It just feels so wrong, that’s their private safe space and they are showing it off to the world for freebies and likes. Vom.

Sorry but if you cannot see the risks of having a kids face plastered all over social media for strangers to see then you are very naive.
People seem to have an attitude of, it would never happen. Well it does, there are alot of weirdos on the internet/social media that I definitely would not want them viewing my child. Not even to mention AI, deep fakes and the dark web.

Completely agree. This is a good campaign to show the dangers in sharing your children online. It’s really creepy

dataprotection.ie/en/children

What is it that you’re worried about though? As I see it:

kidnap- never going to happen
deep fakes- can happen to anyone whose image is recorded
grooming- this is a risk to all children- however at a young age is easily preventable by them having no access to messaging services.

What is your realistic worry ? I mean the burglary one is already pretty tentative so I’m expecting this to be the same

Thanks for sharing this, I was not aware of it. Might use it in my work.
I even had to speak to my ex partner about sharing our child on SM. He didn't see the problem until I had to spell it out to him about images being used on the dark web.

Quite a few footballers have been targetted as a result of them posting on social media that they're on holiday. It does beggar belief to be honest.

There's a guy on social media who parodies influencers. It's brilliant, he sticks post it notes on his fingers for the fake talons and rips the shit out of them.

I find it so strange Rochelle Humes has posted where her son goes to school!

the school posted a photo of the two of them - I think they were reading a book to the classroom.

Maybe you should nip over if she’s local, OP, stick on a balaclava and get in through a window like the Milk Tray man to show her the error of her ways?

Are you that naive?

These people who have hundreds of thousands of people following them are at risk just like celebs who end up with stalkers and These people with mental health issues behave like they actually know and have a relationship with the person because they end up knowing so much about them.

All it takes is one unstable person with issues to want to do something dangerous and with all the information these influencers put out online it would be a walk in the park for that dangerous person to know their routine, when they’re home and when they aren’t, where the children go to school etc and be able to cause real harm to them or their children.

youre the second person who had called me naive yet unable to articulate what you actually think will happen. Maybe after 20 years of children being put online by the parents you have some examples (note: I am not talking about emotional harm which is obvious- we are talking about stranger danger)

@Collectivethoughts im surprised with all your ideas you are unaware of that- it’s been around for years in various guises. Your network will likely have seen it.

I think you have a point to an extent. However, burglars will be able to have a good idea of a person’s wealth from the house, cars and dress of people going into them if they were looking for a rich place to break into which will likely have nice things. Also it wouldn’t be so difficult to work out where children are sleeping if someone wanted to.

The difference is that burglars wouldn’t necessarily know who lived in a regular persons house, or how many people live there to be able to guarantee nobody is home. Whereas an influencer tends to post this stuff online in real time.

Molly Mae for example was robbed a few years back in the previous Manchester apartment she lived in. She’d posted that she’d be attending her own launch event in London on X date, so it was a sure bet for the burglars that no one would be in and her partner would be with her. I believe they took 800k worth of belongings. She’s a lot more savvy now and tends to only post about things after they’ve happened.

I’d say it’s less about the blueprint on its own, and more that in conjunction with making it obvious exactly where they live, who they live with, and the fact they are not there.

Molly Mae visibly has an IQ that’s around her shoe size, so unless you think that’s typical of influencers (which it may well be), I’m not sure that’s any stupider than the people who plaster SM with their holiday photos.

I don't follow any "influencers", but people in general put far too much personal stuff on social media (holidays, children etc). I don't put anything online that could identify me, where I am or what I'm doing and, frankly, I don't understand why anyone would.

Burglars seem to target footballers homes when they know they're away.

I'm sure dodgy lads who live near a influencers fancy house will have their eye on it.

Professional thieves targeting big wealthy homes absolutely do put thought in to big jobs. If you intended to hit the person in OPs post then why wouldn’t you map out the home from their video content? A successful robbery takes planning and intention, opportunists wouldn’t attempt anywhere with cameras, security fences, motion detectors etc.

I literally did articulate what I thought could happen with regards to these influencers sharing their children and details of their life and schools etc.

Theres a big difference between your average Joe sharing a photo of their child on a private account where they know all 40 people that are following them and those influencers who have hundreds of thousands of followers.

These influencers make money by pretending to be interested in their followers and building a faux relationship with them. All it take is one vulnerable or mentally ill follower to think that said influencer actually is their friend, means something to them etc and for them to become upset because said influencer posted something they didn’t like or because they didn’t answer a DM and that mentally ill person could decide that they want to do something about it.

And guess what, that person knows where said influencers child goes to school, what time said influencer leaves the house for drop off, when said influencers is home alone, the lay out of their house etc etc and hey presto they have a very easy way to make physical contact with said influencer or heaven forbid their child.

There’s plenty of wealthy homes on zoopla and right move I don’t think an influencer in the image changes it that much.

I do agree with pp on privacy for dc though.

“All it take is one vulnerable or mentally ill follower to think that said influencer actually is their friend, means something to them etc and for them to become upset because said influencer posted something they didn’t like or because they didn’t answer a DM and that mentally ill person could decide that they want to do something about it.”

“Do something about it” and yes, what does this mean?! 😭 kidnap?

Exactly. If they are stupid enough to do this then it is entirely their fault if they are robbed. It’s entirely on them. Stupidity all for clicks and likes.

It could mean a number of things, kidnap, do harm, threaten, steal from, harass.

Does it really need spelling out?

Yes but you don’t get information on zoopla about where the home owner keeps their collection of expensive watches or the fact that they’re on holiday for two weeks or that they always put their cars keys in a certain cupboard when they walk in the house.

All of these things are exactly the type of content that “influencers” broadcast to the world without a second thought.

Yes, because targeted stranger kidnap for ransom is extraordinarily rare it would be ridiculous to “worry” about.

OP alledges she is”frustrated” by “influencers” posting details of their house in case it’s used as “blueprint for robbery”.
You are now alleging you are worried about influencers showing their children faces due to the “obvious threat” it presents

but this is just a well worn trope used to criticise influencers for the sake of it- we’ve always found something to criticise women for haven’t we? If it’s not this it’s something else.

as to whether or not it’s a realistic threat- well, as I say, in 20 years of people putting there children on social media you’d expect some solid examples of stranger threat.

as always, children are most at danger in their own home, from their own parents. Whether someone is grooming their parents for access to them through Facebook or via the local pub or scout group, the photo of their face isn’t the main issue here