As the craze for viral attention and online monetization grows, more parents and content creators are placing children at the center of social media posts.
However, digital marketing experts and legal professionals warn that exposing minors online opens the door to severe cybersecurity threats, physical safety hazards, and lasting psychological harm.
Beneath the lighthearted laughs and viral videos lies a dangerous digital reality where children are exposed to profiling, cyber-kidnapping, online bullying, and extortion.
The experts made this known during the latest edition of The High Street Talks by The High Street Journal, an X Space panel discussion themed “Content Creation vs The Responsibility of Creating It: Who Is Protecting Young Influencers”
Digital Footprints and Cyber-Kidnapping: How Profiling Puts Kids in Danger
According to Social Media Coach and Digital Marketing Strategist Maximus Ametorgoh, every time a parent or creator posts a photo or video of a child, they create an unerasable digital footprint without the minor’s consent
Maximus Ametorgoh warns that these posts allow strangers to easily profile children. By compiling seemingly harmless posts, bad actors can learn a child’s name, face, school, daily routines, and family relationships.
Ametorgoh explains that criminals use this information for social engineering, for example, approaching a child at school, using their real name and family details to gain trust, and tricking them into a vehicle to kidnap them.
Speaking on the same conversation, Technology Policy Expert and Legal Counsel, Desmond Israel, added that technical features like geo-tagging and location references make this worse
By tracking location data attached to videos and photos, bad actors build detailed dossiers on children, directly compromising their physical safety.
Mockery, Peer Bullying, and Permanent Psychological Damage
Beyond physical security risks, online exposure inflicts serious emotional damage. Parents frequently share clips of toddlers smeared with food, wearing diapers, or covered in powder because they find it funny.
Ametorgoh stresses that these may not be harmless now; however, as children grow, classmates and peers often retrieve these archived videos and photos to mock, harass, and bully them at school. This relentless teasing can cause severe, long-term emotional and psychological trauma.
Ametorgoh reminds parents and content creators that “delete does not mean erase”; the internet never forgets, and platforms archive or store posted content.
In countries like France and Australia, young adults have even taken their own parents to court over embarrassing childhood photos published years earlier.
The Threats of Stalking, Grooming, and Sextortion
Counsel Desmond Israel highlights that exposing children to digital virality opens them up to darker online abuses, including online stalking, grooming, location tracking, and extortion. The digital space also sees a rising threat of sextortion and blackmail.
Under Ghana’s Cyber Security Act, using recorded media or intimate images to blackmail or extort individuals carries heavy criminal penalties, including up to 15 years in prison.
Experts strongly advise everyone, especially young people, never to record or share intimate media over digital channels.
The experts are advocating for strict parenting guidance and ethical content creation to protect minors from these threats and abuses.
