How many children have been asked to change or undress in a video chat?

Monday 09 March 2020

You might be surprised and concerned to read it’s almost 1 in 10 children.

A survey of 40,000 children found that nearly 1 in 10 pupils who video chat with people they haven’t met have been asked to change or undress, and more than 1 in 20 pupils who livestream have been asked to change or undress.

Parents and professionals are often aware of issues around teens being coerced or tricked into getting undressed or revealing themselves online. (Read more about this.)

However, what do we need to say to the youngest pupils, and why?

For young primary pupils, check out this video, song and poster to help communicate the message of never getting undressed in front of a phone, iPad or computer.

A common tactic of sexual predators is to trick young children into getting changed or undressed on camera by playing a ‘game’ or issuing a ‘challenge’, for example, to see how fast they can get changed into different clothes or into a swimming costume. This might happen over video chat or a livestreaming app; videos are often taken and then circulated. Children often don’t even know this has happened.

Research has shown that 98% of publicly available livestreamed child sexual abuse images involved children aged 13 and under; 28% were aged 10 and under.

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