To share or not to share: Posting pictures of your children on social media

Social media has made it possible to share pictures of your adorable little ones with pretty much everyone you’ve ever known and easily keep relatives updated when you live far apart. And who doesn’t want to? Right now, they’re the center of your world, and you want everyone else to experience the delight of your baby starting to giggle or crawl, or your 5-year-old’s first soccer goal. But is there a hidden cost to sharing these moments?

This article is not intended to frighten unnecessarily or to shame mothers who do share pictures of their children. Instead, its aim is to raise awareness of the real risks associated with doing so, especially in light of the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

X’s Grok scandal and altering innocent photos

In the past few months on X, a horrifying scandal unfolded as the app’s artificial intelligence tool, called Grok, was prompted to sexualize images of fully clothed women and children, and it complied.

“Both Rolling Stone and Reuters confirmed instances in which Grok generated sexualized images of girls who appeared to be underage,” Zeale News reported Jan. 8. “In one case reported by Rolling Stone, the chatbot itself produced a message acknowledging that it had generated images of ‘young girls (estimated ages 12–16)’ in sexualized attire, adding that the content may have violated U.S. laws governing child sexual abuse material.”

Although the problem of altering photos into CSAM is most apparent on X, it can occur on any social media platform, since predators can download or take screenshots of images, and then alter those images.

Predators download innocent images of children

In addition to altering photos of children, predators will download innocent photos and use them for nefarious purposes.

The Journal of Pediatrics explained in a June 2023 article:

“In the area of online child sexual exploitation, child abuse investigators have found that hundreds of thousands of innocent photos depicting children in their private sphere, shared on social media over the years, have reappeared on pornographic platforms, associated with explicit or inappropriate comments. Ownership of photos uploaded by parents to social media is lost and it is generally difficult to obtain their removal due to a substantial lack of legislation.”

In addition, the Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) reported that predators specifically search for images of children in bathing suits, in the bath, or potty training. They shared a list of hashtags to avoid on social media here.

Privacy and the risk of stalking

In addition, information like names, birthdays, and location can either be exploited for identity theft and scams, or by predators in order to stalk a child. The advancement of artificial intelligence makes it easier for predators to target potential victims.

CRC explains, “Online grooming typically begins with predators attempting to establish trust and build a rapport with the child. AI enhances this process by automating the analysis of vast amounts of data, enabling predators to identify potential targets with greater precision. These algorithms can detect patterns of behavior, interests, and even emotional states, making grooming much easier to accomplish.”

How to share safely

Despite the risks associated with sharing your children on social media, there are ways to share safely. Many parents choose to only post pictures without showing their children’s faces, though there are other measures that parents can take.

Even a private account does not guarantee safety from predators, as statistics show that 90% of predators are people that the child already knows.

The CRC gives several tips: Make sure to turn off location services and to blur out any identifying information in the backgrounds of photos, like street signs, school names, or home addresses. In addition, children, including babies, should be fully clothed. Posting highlights from activities or travels after the fact make it harder for predators to accurately track your family’s schedule and whereabouts.

Keep your friends list small, contained to only people you know, interact with, and trust in real life to lessen the chances of nefarious actors seeing your posts. Be sure your settings limit your account’s visibility to only those you choose.

Conclusion

Ultimately, each parent has to weigh the risks and benefits of sharing images of their children online. There are other ways to share images of your child, such as through text, WhatsApp, a private shared folder on the cloud, or other direct messaging apps. If you do choose to share images of your child, we hope this article gives you the tools to keep your child safe.