Parents, guardians urged to be wary of social media posts

Parents, guardians urged to be wary of social media posts

By Daniel Itai

Parents and guardians have been urged to avoid sharing and posting sensitive videos of minors on social media.

According to William Bird, Executive Director of Media Monitoring Africa and Ngaa Murombedzi, Advocacy Manager for Women and Men Against Child Abuse, posting sensitive videos of minors can have devastating effects.

“They need to ask themselves why am I sharing insensitive videos of minors? Is this in the best interest of the child? It’s better to alert the relevant authorities so as not to expose those children into secondary trauma,” said Bird.

Murombedzi also alluded to the advice given by Bird citing that children’s interests should always be put first.

“You have to alert the authorities, if you think sharing that video will help that minor then you are wrong say for example a video that involves sexual abuse you will now be distributing child pornography which is a criminal offence. Don’t share anything insensitive as this usually creates a longer digital footprint in the dark web so it’s best to always inform the authorities regardless of the way you feel.

FOLLOW ZimCitizenNews on InstagramTwitter and Facebook.

People should always put the best interest of the child at heart. I would strongly advise people to reach out to the police, social workers or organizations that deal with child abuse instead of reposting that particular sensitive video,” said Murombedzi.

 @danielItai_zw