This Service Helps Kids Get Their Nude Pics Off the 'Net
Here's one thing older millennials like to say: "I'm so glad I don't have to grow up today." Usually, it's in reference to social media: How it magnifies relationship pressures, online bullying, the compulsion to build a personal brand.
All that oversharing, mixed with hormones, while navigating volatile social hierarchies, make a perfect cocktail for nightmare scenarios. It's bad enough when you're an adult and somebody shares your nudes. Imagine going through it as a teenager.
With that in mind, agency VCCP has released a short film called "Rewind" for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The :60 introduces Take It Down, which enables users anywhere in the world to submit a report that helps erase nude or partly-nude photos or videos of people under 18 from the internet.
"Rewind" feels like a cross between a '90s PSA and a Netflix teen drama. That's fine. There's no call for bells and whistles in the video. For those who need what Take It Down has to offer, just knowing such a service exists provides relief.
Take It Down assigns a unique tag to certain images or videos, allowing participating platforms—such as Meta (which operates Facebook and Instagram), MG Freesites (Pornhub and Mindgeek), OnlyFans and Yubo—to remove relevant imagery from their sites and apps. It is also free.
The scariest thing about social media is that when something spreads like wildfire, it feels impossible to control. While it's overly optimistic to think Take It Down can magically or completely undo the harm caused by a sexually suggestive or explicit image, it does provide a step parents or kids can take.
Sometimes a step is sufficient to pull you back from abject hopelessness. Regaining control of your narrative is composed of hundreds of tiny steps.
"We created this system because many children are facing these desperate situations," says Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO, NCMEC. "Our hope is that children become aware of this service, and they feel a sense of relief that tools exist to help take the images down. NCMEC is here to help."
