Many parents feel a lot of anxiety when it comes to keeping their children safe online. Most parents explain the importance of not talking to strangers online and monitor their children's internet use closely.
However, what parents might not realize is that they are the ones sharing photos of their children with pedophiles online through popular hashtags.
Most of these pictures are taken even before kids are born, thanks to the rise in popularity of social media pregnancy announcements and gender reveals.
There are birth announcements, monthly milestone photos, and cute pictures to post all the time.
The phenomenon is known as "sharenting" (sharing and parenting) according to Child Rescue Coalition, an organization that aims to protect children from sexual exploitation.
Specifically, the coalition has released a list of viral hashtags used by pedophiles to find photos of children.
While many of the hashtags identified by the Child Rescue Coalition have innocent purposes, they said pedophiles can manipulate the images they find in their searches.
Many of these hashtags are used by parents and children's product companies daily.
#SplishSplash and #PottyTraining were two other hashtags identified by the coalition.
You can make your social media accounts private to ensure no strangers can search your photos, or avoid using hashtags altogether.
Alternatively, you can keep photos of your family off of social media and share pictures with family and friends through a private digital gallery.
