Especially during the carefree holiday season, the temptation is often great: Parents share photos of their children on Facebook or Instagram. There they are easy prey for pedo criminals.
A snapshot on Instagram, a holiday photo on Facebook, a new picture in the status of a messenger service: Especially during the holiday season, many people share their private experiences and memories on social media. Parents in particular often take a very aggressive approach: you want to show what you have and let the world share in your happiness.
However, the necessary caution is often lacking. Only very few think about the fact that their private photos are increasingly in the focus of pedo-criminal offenders.
Facebook and Instagram – Sources for pedophiles
There is sufficient evidence that this group of perpetrators appropriates large numbers of private recordings from social media channels in order to then upload them to forums on the so-called dark web. Extensive research has shown that panorama and CTRL F in 2021. Accordingly, on one of the largest illegal photo platforms for pedosexuals alone, at least every fourth picture originally comes from Facebook or Instagram. Once online, the photos are there forever.
Children’s privacy is not respected
The police also repeatedly warn against so-called “sharing” – a neologism of the English “share” (to share) and “parenting” (educate). When sharing pictures and videos of one’s own children on social networks, the child’s privacy is often disregarded.
“Once recordings have been sent or uploaded to the profile, parents no longer have control over what happens to the files. Even pictures shared in closed groups are not safe from being disseminated elsewhere through screenshots,” says Falk Hasenberg, spokesman for the police in the Saarland.
Particularly perfidious: Apparently, children’s photos are often edited afterwards and misused for the distribution of pornographic content. Julia Kaiser from the Saarland State Media Authority describes: “Pictures of children that are freely available online create opportunities for producers of computer-animated child pornography. Recordings of clothed children can be redesigned in such a way that they depict lightly clad or even naked children harmless images are sexualized or placed in a sexual context.”
“Parental happiness is on display”
The question remains: why do so many parents put their children on public display despite the known risks and dangers? Stefan Behr, Chairman of the German Child Protection Association in Saarland, has a clear opinion on this. In most cases it is about “thoughtlessness and ignorance”.
“Of course, the parents don’t want to harm their children or consciously put the attractiveness of their own social media channel above the well-being of their children. But unfortunately that is exactly what happens. Children are presented and presented in situations in which one would never show oneself in public “Behr says.
What may appear “familiar, sweet and cute” in the family circle is by no means suitable for the general public – on the contrary. “Through the recordings, one’s own happiness as a parent and the carefree side of everyday family life are on display, without taking the perspective and interests of the children into account.
Children have the right to their own image
Regardless of their age, children have their own personal rights and therefore also a right to their own image. This means that every person can basically decide for themselves whether a picture of them will be published or not.
“That’s why the consent of the child concerned is required from the age of 14 before a picture or video is shared or published. For children under the age of 14, the legal guardians alone are responsible for whether the picture may be published or not,” explains Julia Kaiser from the state media authority.
The Federal Criminal Police Office and other experts have a clear message for parents: “Children’s pictures don’t belong on the internet”. The risks of photos of your own children falling into the wrong hands are too great.