The world of social media is becoming increasingly complicated by the day, and many of us mums constantly feel at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding the protections in place for our kids.
With apps like Instagram growing in popularity among young children and teens, what are our kids really signing up for when they agree to the privacy policies in place?
Well, privacy law expert Jenny Afia decided to break the legal jargon down into simple English so that children – and admittedly, us too – could understand exactly what could be done with our information.
“Although you are responsible for the information you put on Instagram, we may keep, use and share your personal information with companies connected with Instagram,” read the simplified rules in the Growing Up Digital report.
That information could be anything from your name to where you live to who you're direct messaging.
The simplified version of the privacy policy is aimed at ill-informed users and parents who want to help their children better understand what they're agreeing to.
With our children innocently sharing pictures from birthday parties and school trips, and ourselves guilty of sharing dozens of pictures of our little ones; the report explained exactly what can be done with those images once we’ve hit 'post'.
“Officially, you own any original pictures and videos you post, but we are allowed to use them, and we can let others use them as well, anywhere around the world.
“Other people might pay us to use them, and we will not pay you for that.”
So, while we may not be able to stop them signing up, it is important to understand what they’re signing up for and educate them, too.
