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Safeguarding against sexting

3 mins read
How youth workers can help educate young people about the risks of sharing explicit images

The government has published guidance that explains to young people the law over the sharing of indecent images of children.

The move attempts to address the growing problem of young people sharing sexualised images of themselves and peers through electronic communications, such as sexting.

A recent report by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre found sexting is becoming the “norm” among young people. On average, the organisation receives one report a day of a child protection issue linked to sexting.

The guidance explains that taking, making, sharing and possessing sexualized images and “pseudo-photographs” – images created or manipulated by computer that appear to be a photograph – of anyone under the age of 18 is illegal, and outlines the punishments for breaking the law (see box).

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