Stop sextortion – caregivers
Your teens are safer because of your support and guidance through all of life’s challenges. Safety in the digital age is new, and chances are your teens feel more comfortable navigating digital communities than you do, and may still need your guidance to stay safe. There are a few things you can do to help your teen avoid getting into tricky (and sometimes dangerous) situations like sextortion.
This is hard, but you’re already doing great by being here. Your next steps: Talk about it with your teen, then talk about it with your friends.
Be there unconditionally.
Young people experiencing sextortion are scared of getting in trouble. They’re worried about shaming their parents, that they’ll get suspended from school, judged by friends or in trouble with the police. These fears can even be suggested by the blackmailer to maintain control over them, and sadly these things do happen. These fears keep young people silent, and that has led to terrible tragedies.
Your fear and frustration is normal, but they need to know you’ll always get through tough situations together and that you won’t judge them. Even if you think they know you’ll support them, having these conversations can make a big difference in them sharing their experiences with you when something feels off or goes wrong.
Understand the issue.
Sextortion is when a person online threatens to share explicit (naked or sexual) images or video. These demands often include sending money with an app, taking naked or sexual pictures or videos, or other illegal activities. These threats come from different types of people, for example, strangers you meet online, a person pretending to be someone else online, and past romantic or sexual partners.
Some red flags that a message might be sextortion are: the person says “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”, the person pretends to be from a modeling agency and requests pictures, the person uses photos that have been photoshopped to seem real, the person wants to quickly develop a romantic relationship, or they use multiple (fake) identities to contact you. If it sounds too good to be true, that’s probably because it is.
Report sextortion.
Sharing someone's non-consensual intimate imagery is against our rules, and we can help remove images. Report any threats and the images if they’ve been shared. To learn how to report content visit our help centers for Facebook and Instagram.
Submit a case, or encourage your teen to, with any images or videos to Take It Down. This is a free service, developed by NCMEC, to help prevent the spread of young people’s intimate images and videos. Young people can remain anonymous and won’t have to send their images or videos to anyone. You can also find a local hotline via the InHope Network to make a report.
Keep learning.
Being a parent can be a difficult job. Keeping up with the fast-paced changes in today’s technology is hard. Download new apps and try them out. Ask your teen what their favorite apps are. The more you talk about this with your teen, the easier it will be to understand if something bad is happening, and the easier it will be for them to share uncomfortable situations with you.
We encourage you to explore our resources for parents and families. Whether you have a Facebook or Instagram account — or your teen has one — we've come up with some handy links, tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your experience and help your teen navigate their experience.
Spread the word.
By educating each other, we can help better protect our families. Share Thorn's "Stop Sextortion" video. The more people know about some of the ways sextortion happens, the better equipped they’ll be to handle these situations.
