Parents are being urged to rethink what they share online about their children, with a warning that even private posts can end up in the wrong hands.
Parents urged to delete online photos of their children
Lorraine Candy, author of "Mum, What's Wrong with You?: 101 Things Only Mothers of Teenage Girls Know", has called on families to delete photos and posts they have shared of their children over the years, raising concerns about the long term risks of "sharenting", a term used to describe parents posting images, videos and personal details about their children online.
The writer and former magazine editor argues that the risks are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
She said: "I think we need to go back and delete all the pictures we have ever shared - even in private Facebook groups or on private WhatsApp channels - of our children when they were younger."
The parenting expert explained that even other children and teenagers could find these images and use them to create "memes", edit them into videos or circulate them among school groups. In some of the more serious cases, the content could be manipulated into deepfake material, including explicit images.
In a video shared on Instagram, she asked parents to consider the potential impact from a child's perspective.
She said: "Imagine your worst teenage bully at school, imagine your worst friendship group where you feel very insecure and vulnerable, imagine them having access to pictures of you in a bath when you were a baby, to posts about you having a poo.
"I know you can say it's in a private group, it won't get shared. It does get screenshot, it does get shared. Other children have access to their parents' private groups."