Is your child a victim of ´sharenting´ on social media?

OVEREXPOSURE of babies and children on the internet carries certain risks, warns a Catalan university.

A Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) study of ‘oversharing’ or ‘sharenting’ in 10 countries, including Spain, said that uploading offspring-related posts and photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram could lead to identity theft, the use of images as pornographic materials or cyber bullying.

The study, which was based on surveys carried out by information security firm AVG, revealed that 81 per cent of babies appear on the internet before they are six months old and 23 per cent of children appear even before they are born as their parents upload images of the pregnancy scans.

The investigators concluded that it is important to raise awareness about the associated risks of overexposing children on digital platforms.

“This implies having more knowledge and understanding of the conditions of use and privacy policies which social media present”, UOC Social Media Management and Strategy masters director Silvia Martinez noted.