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Livestreaming presents cocktail of risks for children

This news post is over 5 years old
 

The NSPCC has warned that posting live videos online puts children at risk of grooming

Livestreaming presents a cocktail of risks for children, a charity has warned.

The NSPCC has said that parents need to be aware of the dangers their children face about posting live videos online.

In a survey of nearly 40,000 children and young people aged seven to 16, the charity asked about the risks young people face when using the internet. A snapshot of the survey findings on livestreaming and video-chatting highlights the dangers children are exposed to.

The study shows almost a quarter have livestreamed and almost one in eight have video-chatted with someone they've never met in person.

More than 10% of the children who had video-chatted with someone have been asked to get undressed. Of those who had livestreamed, over one in 20 were asked to remove clothes.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: "The popularity of livestreaming has led to a dangerous cocktail of risks for children. Its immediacy means children are being pressured into going along with situations that make them feel uncomfortable.

"The lure of a big audience, or thinking that they are chatting to someone they can trust, piles on that pressure. What's really disturbing is that groomers can then screenshot or record livestreamed abuse, and use it to blackmail the child or share it with others.”