NEWS
With the staggering growth in reports of offenders targeting children through social media platforms, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) has issued ‘The Horse’ - a powerful campaign about the dangers the unregulated internet has evolved into for children.
In today’s connected world, more and more children have their own smartphone; one Canadian study found 77% of children ages 9 - 17 had a smart phone. Parents give them to their kids believing it will keep them safe and connected.
The numbers are disturbing:
29% of children have had an adult or someone they did not know send them sexually explicit content online. Most often, they received this content on their own mobile phone.
36% of children in one Finnish study had been asked at least once a month to show or send nude photos of themselves, while 50% had received messages with sexual content in the same timeframe.
A Swedish study reports that 46% of girls and 29% of boys age 10-13 had been offered money for nude photographs; while 80% of girls and 63% of boys had received unsolicited nude photographs.
Your opinion matters: take a short survey and tell us what you think should be done to protect children online.
Parents need to know about the darkness lurking inside their child’s phone and demand more from government to support and enforce legislation that protects children.
Viewers are encouraged to share this film to help the public understand the risks kids face because of an unregulated internet.
Visit protectchildren.ca/TheHorse to take a survey about what you think should be done to protect children online.