Technology knowledge seen to minimise online exploitation
Having knowledge on the role of technology can minimize cases of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) through its effective and widespread programmes.
Messy Sum, communications and advocacy assistant for an Online Child Protection project at ChildFund Kenya, says that this enables caregivers and parents to learn the concept of ‘app reporting’ in different social media platforms; Tiktok, Instagram (IG), YouTube, Twitter (x) and other platforms to regulate the type of media consumption of their teens.
“Different social media platforms offer age restrictions and verification, parental controls and supervision tools, Direct Messaging (DM) restrictions and content filtering which regulate the type of information these children regulate,” Sum explained.
Social media platform
Messy gave an example of ‘Tiktok’ as a social media platform whereby it contains; ‘Age Restriction’ where only kids with at least 13 years can log in to the account but Kenya allows only children of at least 16 years to hold live stream and direct messaging.
The app also contains ‘parental controls’ where it provides an option of family pairing to link their accounts with that of their children and ‘Content Filtering’ which limits the appearance of content that may be inappropriate for younger audiences.
She further advised caregivers that - to keep an eye on their child’s social media activities - they will need software that links their accounts with the child’s; to check on their pages and what they are posting.
“There are software tools that allow you to monitor, filter, limit and block what your child sees and does online,” she said, further explaining that, if one sets them up correctly, they are highly likely to understand how children use their devices.
Some of the sites the software tools will help identify are those children visit, when accessible to them.
“Kenya has made restrictions on children below the age of 16 years because they are early adopters of information, yet they are the most vulnerable consumers of social media content,” she noted, emphasising that through this knowledge, caregivers are able to minimize cases accrued from OCSEA.
