Urgent PSA for parents: Check your kids' WhatsApp channels
The Digital Law Company is warning parents to check their children's WhatsApp Channels as destructive content is being disseminated through these channels.
Emma Sadleir is the founder of The Digital Law Company and an expert in social media law. She recently issued a warning to parents whose kids are using social media, particularly WhatsApp.
Sadleir said there is an awful thread of communication on WhatsApp targeting kids. The messages are being sent to kids via their WhatsApp Channels.
The type of content that is circulating on these channels, which have no limit to the number of users that join, includes child sexual abuse images, child pornography, defamation, crimen injuria, sharing personal information, and social media handles.
Watch Sadleir's warning below from Instagram.
According to Sadleir, there has been an increase in this sort of illicit communication over WhatsApp with children around the country, but especially in Johannesburg.
She said that The Digital Law Company was in the process of meeting with advocates in an attempt to bring court action to uncover who is behind these WhatsApp accounts.
Sadleir warned parents to be vigilant and to check their children's WhatsApp Channels by clicking on 'Updates' in the bottom left corner. She added that reporting illicit content-sharing channels was vital in helping them bring these criminals to justice. It would also help them get Meta to find the people behind this new trend.
In her latest update, Sadleir said a court order was issued to Meta to delete these so-called Shaderoom accounts.
"We brought an urgent court application... to force Meta to close these accounts down, to ban whoever was creating these accounts, and to hand over identifying information," she said.
Despite the court order, Sadleir says there was "very little to no compliance", which resulted in them issuing Meta with an order of contempt.
Watch the full update in the video below, courtesy of Instagram.
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