AN ONLINE Snapchat group is said to have been set up to share photos of young children, as parents are warned.
Parents have been urged by the Greater Manchester Police to make their children wary of the Snapchat group that could be being using to lure children in and use their photos.
The Greater Manchester Police have said: “At 12.45pm on Wednesday, February 1, police received a report of concern regarding images circulating on Snapchat.
“Although there is nothing to suggest that any indecent images have been shared, officers from GMP Trafford team are working with Snapchat to establish whether there is any need for concern.”
Parents need to take extra care as it has been shown in a poll, taken by 4500 people, that they’re very unaware the slang used by children online.
One particularly worrying statistic showed that 65% of respondents believe that ‘KMS’ stood for keep my secret, when it actually stood for kill myself.
Today we celebrate #SaferInternetDay for a better internet for children and young people. Follow the debates here on Twitter: #SID2017
— Safer Internet Day (@safeinternetday) February 7, 2017
Snapchat user Dan, 22, said: “I don’t think Snapchat’s a very safe platform to be honest, it’s not a good place for vulnerable people. It’s very easy to be misled, and unlike Facebook and Twitter it’s completely photo-centric, which obviously isn’t a great place for children to be.
Contrary to that, another user, Steven, 19, said: “I think Snapchats definitely one of the safer forms of social media. It’s a lot easier to target someone on Facebook and there’s a lot of personal information on offer.
“As long as children are well informed on how to use it properly, then I don’t really see any harm in it. Like with anything though, children do need to be taught how to use it safely.”
February 7th also marks Safer Internet Day, a day to create awareness around the issues with children online.
The website for Safer Internet says that the day “is a great opportunity to talk to your family and friends about the safe, responsible and positive use of technology, and to ‘give a smile’ to help create a kinder online community.”.
This all follows on from the previous week in which a 13-year-old boy was lured into being attacked through Snapchat.
Police warn; “If anyone has concerns surrounding Snapchat accounts, please report direct to Snapchat via the application or website.”
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