Instagram Safety Upgrade! Discover New Tool to Protect Youth

Instagram is making an effort to create a safer space for its users--especially for youth!

Earlier this summer we warned you about how Instagram is a popular tool for child predators and sex traffickers. We’ve also shared with you the dark side of Instagram--Instaporn.

Our friends at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have been working hard on these issues through their #wakeupinstagram campaign. 

“When we sat down with child survivors of sex trafficking in Dec 2018 and learned about how they were targeted, groomed, and sold on Instagram, we decided to put all we could into cleaning up this platform! We have since talked to many teen survivors of sex trafficking, hundreds of youth and youth-serving orgs, joined forces with partner organizations around the world, conducted our own very heavy research, and have been meeting with Instagram and Congress regularly to ensure safer spaces online where human dignity can be respected and upheld.”

-Dawn Hawkins, Vice President and Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation

Today we’re excited to share something POSITIVE about Instagram!

Instagram has just released an update to all users with massively improved reporting tools so that users can report when they are harassed with pornography, solicited for sex, exposed to child sexual abuse material, or if non-consensual images are shared.

These changes don’t prevent pornography and sex traffickers from reaching your kids so we still strongly urge you to consider whether Instagram is an appropriate app for your child (see all our articles about Instagram here).

But being able to easily report such abuses is a giant step in the right direction. 

If your kids DO have an Instagram account, be sure to teach them how to use this important new tool!

Although we have concerns about Instagram and kids, the app is making improvements to create a safer space and can be used to spread light in the darkness. 

One of our greatest strongholds in the battle against pornography is on our own Instagram page where we have tens of thousands of followers. If you haven’t joined us on Instagram yet, head over and start following us today!