The start of the school year is just around the corner for many U.S. students, and parents are gearing up to celebrate the occasion with their annual back-to-school social media posts.
Interestingly, a teacher advised parents against sharing a particular back-to-school photo that has become popular among Facebook moms.
Mr. Williams (@mrwilliamsprek), a preschool teacher with over 2 million TikTok followers, shares a crucial message with parents of young students: Don't post photos of their kids holding signs with their name, age, and starting grade for back-to-school photos.
Back-To-School Snapshots: A Privacy Risk
Most of the time the signs can also be customised to include additional information such as the child's desired future career, school name, and teacher's name - adding to the security risk, Mr Williams urged parents to keep their child's milestones off social media, even though creating a memory box to commemorate them might seem like a good idea.
"Let's say a predator saw that photo of your child. They now know all the information about your child," he said in a TikTok video. The predator, Mr. Williams continued, now knows the child's name, their school, their grade and even their teacher.
@mrwilliamsprek Let’s think before we post information about our children and students online! #teachertok #teachertips #parentsoftiktok #firstdayofschool #firstdayofschoolpictures
♬ original sound - Mr Williams
But it doesn't stop there. These photos even reveal a child's favourite colour, favourite food, and TV shows they like—basically, everything about the child. Mr Williams urges parents to avoid sharing these details publicly.
The ease of accessing information online means strangers can gather harmful details about children, putting all students at a particular school at risk. "Stop publicly posting these photos," Mr. Williams urged parents.
"If you want it for yourself, great! If you want it for when they graduate high school, amazing! But stop putting them online," the TikTok star added. While posting adorable first-day-of-school pictures might be tempting, forensic computer and cell phone expert Tim McLemee advises against it in an interview with ABC affiliate KLTV.
"The best rule of thumb is do not place anything on the internet, on any platform, that you do not want criminals to see," McLemee bluntly said. "And don't think you're safe just because you maintain strict privacy settings on your account. "
"Everyone that's on social media today either has fallen victim to losing their account or they have had friends lose access to their account through a hacker or something like that, so, at any given moment, you could have someone that is in your group, family or friend that does have access to your Facebook ... lose their account information to a criminal," McLemee added.
How Social Media Sharing Endangers Your Child
Online predators can exploit shared information in horrifying ways. Not only can they use details from social media posts to locate and target children in person, but they also employ a disturbing practice known as "digital kidnapping."
According to the Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union, digital kidnapping occurs when scammers hijack a victim's social media profiles, demanding ransom for their return. This also includes stealing photos from social media pages and using them for nefarious purposes.
"Criminals can use your child's image and shared details to create fake profiles and fabricate an online identity," Trevor Cooke, an online privacy expert at EarthWeb, told the Huffington Post. "They can then set up unauthorised accounts, apply for credit, and conduct other activities under their name," Cooke added.
Given the prevalence of online threats targeting children, parents must remain vigilant. While there's no foolproof method to ensure complete safety, efforts are being made to mitigate digital and real risks.
In a recent development, Meta is reportedly testing an AI-powered "nudity protection" tool designed to blur explicit images sent to minors on its messaging platform as a proactive measure against sextortion.
In a similar move, a new law has been enacted prohibiting children under 14 from accessing social media platforms within the state. Teenagers aged 14 or 15 must obtain parental consent before creating an account on any social media platform.
Parents are encouraged to exercise caution when sharing back-to-school photos online as the new school year begins. Innocent-looking images can inadvertently reveal personal information that could put children at risk.
