What may seem innocent could have consequences.
The start of the school year has passed and we are seeing photos with the child’s name, age, class and school pop up on social networks. This practice may seem like a harmless way to celebrate the start of the school year, but it is not without its risks. Because this type of photo often contains information that predators and scammers would like to know.
The L’Enfant bleu association, which fights against all forms of mistreatment of minors, has already alerted parents to the risk of these photos being recovered and misused by people with bad intentions. This risk is underestimated, even unrecognized by parents. They should therefore be aware that anything they post on social media could potentially be seen by anyone. We certainly would not want to share names, addresses, schools, teachers or any private information with those who may have bad intentions.
“In order to prevent a photo of your child from falling into the wrong hands, we recommend that you limit the scope of your publications,” explains L’Enfant bleu on its website. To be as vigilant as possible and protect your children, you must start by setting your accounts to private, and not “accepting just anyone as a friend” on social networks. “You have to be careful about the people you add to your community. Because from the moment you share the photo, that means that these people you don’t know or at least less well know, can also recover these photos and share them”, confirms the association.
On the contrary, it is necessary take advantage of these situations to teach your children the importance of online privacy, especially since many of them have their own social media accounts. It’s important to have this conversation to let them know that what may seem innocent could have consequences.