Offenses against children on social networks reopen debate on children’s exposure – 11/24/2023 – Education

It’s no secret that the supposed anonymity guaranteed by avatars and fake names allows some people to feel free to offend acquaintances and strangers on social media. Gratuitous attacks on celebrities’ bodies are also nothing new. What caused surprise in recent weeks was that some celebrities reported that their sons and daughters, who are still babies, have received hundreds of such insults.

At the end of October, American socialite Paris Hilton published the first photo of 9-month-old Phoenix on Instagram and received a flood of terrible comments talking about the size of the child’s head, many of which made fun of the boy and pointed out alleged medical negligence on her part. Here, influencers and former BBBs Viih Tube and Eliezer have been talking for months about the fatphobia that Lua, the couple’s 7-month-old daughter, suffers on social media, with extremely nasty messages.

Situations like these reveal the toxic potential of digital platforms, since very young children, who simply cannot defend themselves, suffer systematic attacks from anonymous people. The debate on this topic needs to happen on two fronts: dealing with punishments for those responsible for the messages, which can be classified as slander, insult and defamation, and observing what those responsible should do in terms of safety and protection of minors.

This is not about blaming families, but about reflecting on the multitude of positive and negative situations to which we are subjecting children and adolescents when we voluntarily make their image available in any media. An example is the case of little girl Alice, who participated in a major advertising campaign for a bank at the end of 2021 and became a meme on Brazilian timelines. At the time, her mother, Morgana Secco, gave interviews criticizing the use of her daughter’s face in political and offensive virals.

In addition to attacks and misuse of photos, it is necessary to emphasize that the seriousness of crimes can escalate to an astonishing extent. One example is the use of images published openly on social networks to produce pornographic material, created by pedophiles using artificial intelligence and distributed indiscriminately.

There is no justification for the attacks committed by those who believe they have the right to post any nasty comment just because the child is in an image or video shared with the public. But it is also necessary to consider that the decision to expose children in the digital environment should not be something commonplace. The risks are not low for adults either, of course, but supporting and assisting them while they develop and still cannot decide on the right to their own image is a duty of those responsible and of society as a whole.

Therefore, the practice of “sharenting” —term used to define the sharing of images of sons and daughters on the internet— needs to be viewed with extreme caution. It is no surprise that this issue has alarmed governments: in France, a bill wants to prohibit families from publishing this type of photos and videos without the consent of minors. There are artists who also show concern about this. The singer Sandy is a good example: since her son Theo, now 9 years old, was born, publications on the artist’s social media in which he appears have been very rare. And, when this happens, the images always portray the boy from behind.

The awareness that we have no control over what can happen as soon as we press the “publish” button needs to be permanent, and the decision to post these images must be taken critically and aware of the possible dangers. Families need to be increasingly informed about legal measures in cases of online violence against children, demanding that platforms and authorities take steps to ensure this does not happen. On the other hand, it is urgent that people understand that they can be punished for spreading prejudiced and hateful speeches on the networks.

In the connected world, adult accountability and responsibility are fundamental for children to have a healthy childhood.