Al-Riyadh

EXPLOITING children on social media networks to gain fame and money is a form of child abuse punishable by the law. It is a psychological symptom that could impact the behavior children who get the spotlight in this manner.

If a child finds out he or she has become famous at an early age, it would greatly affect their upbringing and mental growth. It could increase anxiety and a feeling of insecurity in them. This is in addition to the pressure on the child from the family and social media followers to remain under the spotlight and make more money.

There are many video clips on social media networking sites that show children at a very young age facing a lot of pressure to go out and meet with fans, as if it was a full time job and not a hobby. This will reflect on their personality and behavior in the future.

It will mess up with their priorities in life and the way they look at them, all because the family was in search for fame and wanted to increase the number of followers on social media sites in order to generate more money.

These children will reveal the smallest details about their lives to total strangers when they come under pressure.

The Public Prosecution has directed the related authorities to take action against parents who exploit children to gain fame on social media. This came after many viral video showed the innocence of children being exploited, harming their interests.

The authorities are closely monitoring the digital content where children are involved and will take action immediately if any children are found to be harmed.

The laws for protection against abuse, protection of children and combating cybercrimes stress the consequences of exploiting children as a commodity to make money or abusing them in any manner in an attempt to gain followers on social media platforms.

Any such act is punishable by the law and the violators will be jailed for one month to one year and slapped with a fine ranging from SR5,000 to SR50,000.

Despite all the efforts by the authorities to protect children from exploitation, there is a huge gap in implementing the law. The sloppiness in taking action against child abuse breaks the balance in family. We are in need of campaigns to raise awareness on these laws in order to put an end to the exploitation of children.