Protect Kids From Online Predators With This Social Media App – LocalNews8.com

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) – The COVID pandemic may have had a troubling side effect: an increase in child molesters targeting children online.

What are local law enforcement agencies doing to protect children?

Local News 8’s Ariel Jensen spoke with the Madison Sheriff’s Office.

When COVID hit, all of our young students were sent home with laptops, tablets and computers.

This has made it easier for cyber criminals to target children.

Last week I wrote about internet predators targeting young boys. I also discussed how sextortion is a form of child exploitation in which children are persuaded to share explicit photos or videos.

They are then blackmailed into sharing the photos with the public.

Our children are at risk and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports that sexual extortion has increased by 323%. However, Madison County has singled out one app as the biggest problem.

Christian Teague Madison Sheriff County Detective said, “The app that causes the most problems for us is Snapchat. This year alone, the Attorney General’s Office has received over 2,000 cyber tips, 50% of which were reported by Snapchat,” Christian Teague Madison Sheriff County Detective said, “Snapchat gives its users the illusion that every photo you take, every video you send, is going to disappear and it’s no more.”

“but we know that’s not true with online solicitation and child sexual exploitation. Snapchat will typically warn the user that the other person is taking a screenshot of an image or even a chat that you’ve sent. But today, there are suspects, and I’ve seen it in personal cases here in Madison, where they’ll hold the device that Snapchat is on that they’re communicating with a child on, but they have another device and they’re going to take a picture of it. There’s no way that child would know that their image is stored on another device,” Teague continued.

We are reminded again to pay close attention to what our children do on their phones…

“mask their age and be able to talk to kids more easily. Kids are super concerned about their snap streak, they’re always trying to meet new people and make new friends on Snapchat. They don’t know who they are,” Teague said.

Okay, I was skeptical too when I first heard this, but there is a way to remove explicit photos from the internet.

Detective Teague tells me about a website called ‘https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/’

This is a trusted website where you upload the original photo and delete the rest from the internet.