Social media was originally made as a hub to help people connect digitally with friends.
Now it is a space filled with hatred, keyboard warriors, and most disturbingly, children being exploited sexually.
This issue has become so prominent that a social media platform called TikTok, released a statement on preventing child sexual abuse on the app. “Sexualized content of minors or Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) is any visual, textual, and audible depictions or production of explicit or inferred child sexual assault and child exploitation.”
The release states that sexualized content of children is illegal and can lead to imprisonment. Emphasizing that TikTok has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and sexualized content of minors.
Many creators on this platform use their children to gain popularity and fame no matter the alarming consequences that could potentially come from their content.
To break it down in simple terms, when a child is placed in the thumbnail of a video, it will automatically gain more views and shares. The numbers skyrocket when the parent or guardian in charge of the account purposefully inserts a specific image that has sexualized connotations.
Let that sink in.
Instead of being their protector, these parents are using the innocence of their children and the revolting fetishes of online creeps to their advantage. Simple enough to fly under the radar of the guidelines but obvious enough for everyone else to be appalled and to speak out on these immoral videos.
Here are a few content creators that have been alleged of child exploitation and the ways they have gone about it:
Leticia Shirakiin places her baby in front of the camera and gives them a banana, gaining over 10.4 million views whilst every other video she posted of herself had under 500,000 views. Now her page is filled with her child.
Ruby Franke was a family vlogger on the social platform YouTube under the account name ‘8 Passengers’. She has now been charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse, four accounts to which she pled guilty in the state of Utah.
Wren & Jacquelyn is the account’s name which has several videos of a little girl named Wren tasting foods that are all phallic shaped. As the backlash grew, the mother/creator turned off all comments regarding her disgusting actions.
This issue has gone too far and has been pushed under the rug too many times. These dangers are in our pockets, in our children’s hands, and in humanities grasp.
According to a report by The New York Times, 5,000 child influencer accounts examined, had 32 million connections to male followers.
Parents on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have been profiting and relying their finances on their children being sexualized. It has become so common nowadays that predators can gather inappropriate pictures and videos of minors within a few clicks.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, over 500,000 predators are scrolling through social media platforms, gaming apps, and chat rooms, trying to connect with kids.
If that doesn’t make you want to keep your children safe, then maybe society should start revaluating their morals.
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