Lambie issues chilling warning to parents

Outspoken senator Jacqui Lambie has issues a chilling warning to parents to think twice before sharing photos of their children online.

Without naming any platforms, the Tasmanian senator appeared on the Today show and described social media was “open slather for paedophiles”.

“I’m going to be very careful so no platform sues me here but some of those platforms out there, I can tell you, they are open slather for pedophiles,” she said.

“There is no doubt about that. I think you need to be really very careful what you’re putting up on your social media.

“They might look beautiful and cute in your own pictures, but when you are sharing them out there, there are some really nasty people around the world and you need to be really careful.”

Earlier on Monday morning’s show, Australian Federal Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Hilda Sirec warned that criminals and predators could obtain the photos online or use the context clues such as logos on uniforms and public locations to groom children and parents.

“Everything that relates to your location or even the logo on your school uniform, unfortunately, can be used by these predators out there to try and groom children, and also groom parents and carers out there, to make themselves familiar to them in their lives,” she said.

Ms Sirec added that the AFP had collected “terabytes” of evidence, including victims in their school uniforms.

“Some of these innocent images such as children in school uniforms are making part of their collections,” she said.

Parents who do want to share photos of their children on their first day of school have been advised to update their privacy settings on social media and limit the people who are able to view the photos.

“Without strong privacy settings, images shared online of their child’s first day at school or other everyday images may end up being seen by unintended audiences,” said Ms Sirec in a statement released by the AFP on Monday.

“We also suggest setting accounts to ‘private’ or ‘friends only’, review your friends or followers and only share images of children with people you know and trust.”

The AFP also advised parents to avoid sharing their location or “checking in” and to ensure background details in photos and videos don’t reveal geographical details.