Self-abuse by young children worries authorities, shocks parents – Winnipeg Free Press

Children as young as five in Manitoba are trying to share nude videos of themselves on social media – often using their parents' accounts – a trend that has alarmed police and enforcement agencies.

Most kids who use so-called selfies write off the pictures as silly, but they don't understand the consequences and dangers, said RCMP Cpl. Gord Olson.

“We're seeing young kids — a lot of elementary school kids ages five to nine or 10 — getting involved,” said a member of the RCMP's Internet Child Exploitation Unit in Winnipeg.

“Many times parents use their device, but they don't know. Small children should not have unsupervised access to devices.”

In 2023, ICE received 652 reports of self-abuse from social media companies, up from 242 the previous year. The RCMP believes this is an underreported trend.

“We know it's happening at an alarming rate,” Olson said.

Abuse is suspected in a small percentage of cases, he added.

Young children should not have unfettered access to smartphones or other devices, police and child protection agencies say.

“Parents need to know what their kids are doing on their devices,” Olson said.

ICE is seeing “younger and younger kids” being given their own smartphones or tablets, he added.

US social media companies are legally required to report child sexual abuse images discovered on their apps or websites to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia.

Last month, NCMEC said most tech companies made little effort to combat child sexual exploitation on their platforms, many of which require users to be at least 13 years old.

Olson says the filters are supposed to stop the posts from being uploaded, but he can't assume all images are being caught.

When ICE receives a report of child abuse in Manitoba, officers conduct an investigation to ensure the young person's safety.

“We are trying to find out who is doing this. Is there any coercion behind this?” Olson said. “Parents are as surprised as we are when we call or knock on the door.”

On Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, parents were warned about self-exploitation, predators and other online harms, including sexting and seduction.

“We are trying to find out who is doing this. Is there any compulsion behind it? When we call or knock on the door, the parents are just as shocked as we are.''– RCMP Cpl. Gord Olson

RCMP have described sextort as a public safety crisis, especially for youth and teenagers between the ages of 14 and 24.

Offenders often impersonate victims in order to send revealing photos or videos. They then threaten to expose the material unless the victim sends money, more pictures, or both.

Last month, the BC NDP government said it would introduce legislation to hold social media companies accountable for harm to children and adults after two teenage sex victims died by suicide.

The federal Liberal government has yet to deliver on its promises of an online harm bill.

Sherry Gott, Manitoba's child and youth advocate, called for greater efforts to prevent, identify and intervene in child sexual exploitation.

Cybertip.ca received 27,429 reports of online child sexual exploitation in 2023, up from 18,891 last year, according to the Winnipeg-based Canadian Center for Child Protection (C3P), which operates the website.

Of the 2,023 reports, 1,044 were from Manitoba (344 were referred to police or child welfare agencies in the province).

Most of the messages were about child sexual abuse material.

Cybertip.ca received 2,500 sextort reports, an 88% increase from 2022, and 2,785 fraud reports.

Communication usually begins on Instagram and moves to Snapchat, as C3P reports, with victims getting younger.

According to C3P's Camillia Lane and Val Caldwell, who gives presentations on internet safety in schools, young children are usually contacted by predators when they are playing online games.

The predator then encourages the child to move the chat to a social media app.

Parents are encouraged to monitor their children's activity and communicate with them regularly to see what websites or apps they are using and who they are talking to.

“Parents are the first line of defense when it comes to their children's online presence.”– Camillia Lane of the Canadian Child Advocacy Center in Winnipeg (C3P)

“Parents are the front line of defense when it comes to their children's online presence,” Lane said.

Caldwell, who lives in Wallace-Woodworth in western Manitoba, said many schools ask him to speak to Grade 2 and 3 students.

He says social media companies can help protect children. He recently reported a sexualized image of an underage child, but received a notice saying it was not against the platform's community guidelines.

The image was not removed until the RCMP intervened.

“It should be removed immediately. It shouldn't take hours,” Caldwell said.

Last month, Altona police conducted a welfare check on the young girl after Interpol was contacted about an ongoing investigation in Europe.

“At some point in their investigation, it was connected to a computer in our area — a juvenile who may have been sending the photos,” said Altona Police Chief Dan Defer. “Someone asked for his pictures.”

After confirming that the girl was safe, officers spoke with her parents.

“The most important thing for parents is to know what your kids are doing online,” Defer said.

A 35-year-old Lethbridge, Alta., man has been charged with allegedly forcing a Winnipeg girl to send sexually suggestive images on Snapchat, police said.

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Chris Kitching
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As a general reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.

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