All too often adults approach minors on public chat websites and request nude photos or even ask to meet them. Youngsters sometimes log on to chat rooms and out of curiosity chat to people that they down know. This is not always without danger. Together with cyber expert Mathieu Verschraege, VRT News created a fake profile of a 15-year-old girl and logged on to a chat room.
Cyber expert Mathieu Verschraege of Mediavista created the profile Chelsey_14 and logged on to the ChillPlanet.nl chat website. It didn’t take long before Chelsey_14, who purported to be a 15-year-old girl received attention from adult men more than twice her age.
“Hi, are you horny too?”, “Do you like chatting with someone that is a bit older?”, “I’m 38, is that a problem?” are just a few examples of the reactions Chelsey_14 received after having spent a short time in the chatroom.
Mathieu Verschraege told VRT News that "These private messages came from adult men that had all seen that Chelsey_14 is underage. "Sexually explicit propositions are made here and it is through sites like these that young people can all too easily fall victim to grooming."
What is "grooming"?
(Online) grooming involves an adult deliberately seeking out and manipulating minors through social media and other internet applications. They build a trusting relationship by giving compliments and showing interest. Over time, the conversation changes to sexual questions, acts and sometimes physical encounters involving sexual violence. Child Focus, the organisation for missing and abused children, is all too aware of the issue.
Child Focus’ Niels Van Paemel told VRT News that groomers seek out theose that are most vulnerable when engaging with minors online. "We know that these websites are popular with young people, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many groomers on them. They are also active on chat-enabled games and social media like TikTok and Snapchat."
Nudity and abuse
Earlier this year, a 14-year-old girl was abused and murdered in Liège by a man she met through Snapchat. "Things can go wrong very quickly," says Mathieu Verschraege.
"Groomers suggest continuing the conversation via apps like Snapchat or Discord. Firstly because they can ask for nude images more easily there and secondly because Snapchat allows you to view a person’s current location, often their home town. Many young people have this feature of the app turned on automatically."
How many young people become victims of grooming in Belgium is difficult to chart. "Last year we investigated 36 cases, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. 9 out of 10 of these cases were reported by parents. In any case many more children are victims, but they cannot or dare not say that they are."
Meanwhile, the police received 88 reports of cases of grooming last year. Again, this is an underestimate.
Call to tech companies
In the EU tech companies such as Meta and TikTok have had to comply with the Digital Service Directive since last summer. The directive’s aim is, among other things, to make the internet safer for children. "Even the smaller players like these chat websites will have to put a lot of effort into achieving this,” Niels Van Paemel said.
"We call on them to step up and keep their platforms safe by proving a reporting procedure, that way youngsters can report if something is not OK. On the other hand, our policymakers need to make that European legislation strict enough to prevent online sexual abuse."
Until a few weeks ago, Omegle was the most popular chat platform, where users could chat with strangers. It was known as a place where a lot of abuse takes place or started from. Because of this in early November the chat site’s creator decided to take the platform offline after 14 years.
How to recognise grooming and what can you do as a victim?
- Never share personal details like your full name and hometown with strangers, don't use them for your username either.
- Only add people you know on your social media.
- Use a private account so that not everyone can see your profile.
- If you do like to chat through such a website, use a fictitious name, this way people are less likely to find out your identity.
- Report and delete the accounts of people you don't trust or are harassing you.
- If you have become a victim you should try and talk to an adult you trust, for example a parent, a teacher or an older sibling. Through its everyoneeenmax.be webpage, Child Focus will help you find an adult confidant.
Tips for parents
- Try to talk to your child calmly and openly: It is brave and sensible of your child have to come to you with this.
- Don't judge your child: Your child is not the guilty party here.
- Gather all the evidence: You can take screenshots of the conversations together with your child. You can use that later if you want to make a complaint to the police.
- Grooming is a serious crime for which you can make a complaint to the police: Child Focus can also help with this.
- Report and block the person on social media: This way they will no longer be able to contact your child.