Meta wants to educate children how to identify groomers online
What's the story
Meta, Facebook's parent company, has partnered with non-profit organization Childhelp to create an educational program for middle school students.
The initiative is intended to prepare children with the skills to identify and avoid different types of online exploitation, from sextortion scams to grooming.
The curriculum is free for schools, parents, or organizations looking to promote child safety online.
Program details
Curriculum includes interactive activities and expert advice
The curriculum, which is fully funded by Meta, includes lesson plans, interactive classroom activities, as well as educational videos.
It aims to help children navigate the online and offline world safely.
The program was developed in collaboration with child safety experts from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Department of Homeland Security, Thorn (a non-profit organization), Purdue University and the Crimes Against Children Research Center.
Safety measures
Meta's ongoing efforts toward child safety online
Amid growing legislative focus on child safety, Meta has been working hard to make its platforms safer for young users.
In 2024, Instagram introduced more private and restricted accounts for teenagers and started automatically blurring explicit images sent to minors.
The platform also introduced new features to combat sextortion scams, like preventing users from taking screenshots of disappearing photos in private chats.
Regulatory response
Legislative actions and Meta's commitment to child safety
Legislative measures like Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 are pending in the US Senate. The newly proposed Kids Off Social Media Act seeks to prevent kids under 13 from creating social media accounts.
Some states have also passed their own social media safety laws, but many are being challenged in courts.
Antigone Davis, Meta's Global Safety Head, stressed in a press release, "At Meta, we continue to do all we can to protect young people on our apps."