Over the last few days Child Exploitation & Online Protection (CEOP) have been made aware, that in some areas of the UK, there has been information circulating among professionals about online viral scares and challenges, in some cases involving local news articles.
CEOP offer the following guidance for parents and carers, and our advice on responding to such situations…
Stories and warnings often circulate online, and offline, about online scares or suicide challenges which are alleged to have encouraged children to engage in harmful activities. Most have been found to be hoaxes, fake news or wildly exaggerated stories, however it is important that the children and young people you work with know how to seek help should they require it.
One of our core values is not to frighten or scare-monger. Therefore, we do not advise sending warnings out to parents and carers or publicising issues on your newsletters or social media pages. Whilst sharing warnings is often done with good intentions, it can pose risks.
Seeing or hearing about this content can be distressing for both children and their families. If a child has not heard about the scare, it can make them curious, and they may look for the content online which they could find upsetting. By publicising there is also a risk that an individual will create a website with harmful content based around the scare.
We suggest, that if parents or carers come to you directly, worried about information they have seen or heard about a scare, you should signpost them to our article, which contains further information and links to other resources. www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/theres-a-viral-scare-online-what-should-I-do/