Longford parents reminded to 'pause before you post' this Christmas

Longford County Council have reminded parents of the ‘Pause Before You Post’ nationwide campaign currently underway, which aims to make parents more aware of the consequences that can arise from posting details, photos, and videos of their children online.

Given that Christmas tends to be the season when social media feeds are filled with content of children and their gifts from Santa, the campaign highlights the fact that every seemingly harmless photo and detail shared online about a child can consequently build a digital footprint the child didn’t consent to or choose. 

The campaign also warns that the child’s name, age, school, hobbies, and particularly location tags, can all be pieced together by strangers, while images can be misused for harmful purposes, from deepfakes to identity theft.

Statistics show that parents upload an average of 63 images of their child every month, however rather frighteningly, only 20 images are enough to create a deepfake video.

The campaign reminds parents that what may seem harmless today could impact a child’s future privacy, safety, and reputation, and it encourages people to check before posting if their content reveals personal information about the child, and if the child’s right to privacy is being protected.  

Funded by the local democracy reporting scheme

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