Child rights group warns parents against posting photos of children in hashtag challenge

A child rights group on Thursday warned parents against posting photos of their children in social media amid the trending hashtag challenge.

According to a report on “Balitanghali,” Save the Children Philippines chief executive officer Atty. Almerto Muyot called on parents to be more cautious in posting photos of their children on social media and using the hashtag #dropyourbeautifuldaughterchallenge as this gives strangers a way to easily save them.

He said these trending online challenges are prone to online sexual exploitation and abuse despite the photo not being sexual in nature.

“While we are proud of our children and would love to share beautiful pictures of them, let us be more cautious in joining online challenges that may jeopardize their welfare,” Muyot said in a press statement.

“It would also help if we increase the safety and privacy setting of our social media accounts, as well as of our children’s, and build a safe digital platform for children where they can learn, have fun and socialize with real friends, neighbors, and family during the lockdown,” he added.

He said parents and guardians should be at the forefront of fulfilling the right of children to be protected from online sexual abuse and exploitation by using social media responsibly and teaching children the proper and safe use of the internet.

Save the Children said the Philippines is currently the global epicenter of online sexual abuse and exploitation based on the thousands of sexual images of Filipino children found proliferating in digital platforms being used by sexual predators.

It added, in 2017, the Department of Justice-Office of Cybercrime received 45,645 tip-offs about sexual images of Filipino children from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCMEC requires internet service providers (ISPs) and electronic service providers (ESPs) in the US to submit reports of child abuse. The number has since then ballooned to 600,000 last year.—AOL, GMA News