The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday urged parents to pay attention to how their children make friends online, as a survey suggested that about 2.8 percent of children and adolescents have been asked by people online to share explicit images.
A Web content survey on the Internet usage of 25,069 children and adolescents found that 67.5 percent mostly visit video streaming sites, such as YouTube, iQiyi (愛奇藝) and Tik Tok (抖音), the ministry’s Department of Protective Services said.
The survey found that 31.4 percent hope to make new friends online and 7.1 percent have used online dating sites to make friends, it said.
Four percent of respondents said they have dated someone they met through the Internet, while 2.8 percent said they had been asked to share explicit images of themselves online, the department said.
Of those, 0.3 percent sent explicit images of themselves to another person and 0.3 percent said the images they had sent were publicly shared online without their consent, it added.
The ministry advised children and adolescents to follow the “five don’ts” for online safety: Don’t accept friend requests from strangers; don’t display personal information, such as school, class, address, telephone number, age and instant messaging account, on social media platforms; don’t accept favors or gifts from online friends; don’t meet alone with people you have met online, or meet them only in public spaces after notifying your parents about the time and location of the meeting as well as the other person’s contact information; and don’t share images that involve nudity with other people, even if they are a romantic partner.
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