Social media safety guidelines released: PTA acts to maintain positive digital footprint

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has released “Online Safety Guide, Safe Use of Social Media,” which offers guidance on the risks one might face online, and some advice on how to stay secure and responsible to maintain a positive digital footprint.

Anything that is uploaded and shared online such as a photo, video or text is content. While a lot of content online is positive in nature, there is a plethora of content that can cause distress or emotional harm.

Online spaces are being used by predators and other bad actors to accelerate illegal and harmful activities in an unprecedented way. There is a chance that one might meet people online that are not who they say they are.

‘Grooming’ is a word to describe the tactics abusers use via the internet to sexually exploit and manipulate young people and children.

The PTA stated that young people can sometimes end up trusting abusers whose real identities they may not know.

Groomers use social media platforms popular with young people and pretend to be one of them. They select their victim based on perceived vulnerability and attempt to befriend them by pretending to share similar hobbies or interests, using someone else’s pictures, offering gifts or followers and sharing “secrets”.

It further stated that once the groomer gains the victim’s trust, they may ask for explicit pictures or videos from the young person. They will try to emotionally blackmail the victim and threaten to block them if they say no to such requests. The victim may feel helpless and end up sharing intimate pictures – which can be used for extortion later by the groomer.

Online groomer may be somebody the victim has already met through their family or through social circle. They will further use the internet to build a relationship with their victim. Groomers can pretend to be charismatic, kind and occasionally helpful and young people may not realize that they are being groomed

PTA further stated that online predators will target children and young adults on platforms and apps that young people are most likely to use (including job forums and gaming sites). They may also appear to be the same age as their victim. The predator will often start a friendly conversation or offer advice to gain the victim’s trust before asking them for their phone number to chat privately.

The person contacting a person online could be a stranger or someone he/she already know or have met. They can be someone who is older or close to their age. Predators will also lie about their gender, where they live and their actual motivations.

The PTA informed about some warning signs which include: one feel uncomfortable — predators will test boundaries and ask intrusive questions from their victim. They tell their webcam or video app is not working — the online groomer might pretend to be someone else.

They say that their webcam or video app is not working so you cannot see what they really look like. They make inappropriate comments about your appearance or body— and ask for personal pictures of you or those of your family members/friends. Be careful of anyone online who gives lots of compliments for no reason.

They contact you multiple times and in different ways — like one meet them on Reddit then they ask about number and start direct messaging.

They insist on meeting — they might say they want to see you in person and will act angry/distant or call you a “bad” friend if you don’t agree. They want to keep it private — people who want to harm you do not want other people to know about them. They may ask you to only contact them when you are alone.

They ask you for favors/money, etc — once trust has been established, the groomer might ask the victim for money or other favors. They will make false claims and promises about their relationship with the victim to get what they want.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022