Tag: child safety

Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) has launched a new campaign alongside DDB Group Philippines in order to combat online sexual exploitation of children (OSAEC) in the Philippines, as well as raising awareness and encouraging action across digital platforms.

At the centre of this campaign are multiple films designed to educate the public on the rampant exploitation of children online under the public noses, and the importance of reporting suspicious activity. These films serve as a rallying cry for individuals, companies, and organizations across all sectors to join the fight against OSAEC.

With social media serving as a pervasive influence in today’s society, the partnership between PCW and DDB Group Philippines aims to leverage platforms to create awareness of how citizens can protect children from online predators and create a safer digital environment for all.

Gil Chua, group chair and CEO at DDB Group Philippines, said, “At DDB, we believe in the power of creativity to move people and the importance of collective action in safeguarding the welfare of our children. As a longtime partner of PCW, we are committed to utilizing our expertise to amplify awareness, encourage reporting, and ultimately, protect the most vulnerable members of our society.”

Meanwhile, Atty. Khay Ann C. Magundayao-Borlado, OIC at PCW, commented, “Seven years partnership with DDB have seen strides in communications and advancement of policies into laws from safe spaces law to empowering the public to protect our children from online abuse. We are proud to partner with DDB in this crucial endeavor to harness the reach and influence of social media, we can amplify our message and mobilize communities to take action. Together, we can stop abuse.”

Australia – In partnership with the Australian Government, advertising agency BMF has created the first national child sexual abuse prevention campaign, ‘One Talk at a Time’. The campaign demonstrates that together we can create a safer world for our kids, free from sexual abuse, with something as simple as talking to the children in our lives.

‘One Talk at a Time’ calls for a collective effort to prevent child sexual abuse by helping adults understand that the risk of the unthinkable can be reduced significantly, one talk at a time.

Christina Aventi, chief strategy officer at BMF, said, “Child sexual abuse is a subject that’s hard to face let alone talk about. We don’t know how to broach the subject with our kids. This can paralyse us into silence. But silence creates space for people who abuse to come between children and those who protect them, and that is where child sexual abuse can hide. Everytime we talk, we break that wall and fill that ‘space’ with support, taking power away from perpetrators and help prevent child sexual abuse for every child.”

Meanwhile, Tom Hoskins, creative director at BMF, commented, “Bringing an end to child sexual abuse feels like a problem so large and insidious that many of us don’t know where to begin or even if it’s achievable. But reaching a solution as a community may be possible if we start with one talk at a time.”

The integrated campaign is live in Australia across TV, cinema, radio, social, and digital.

Singapore – Singaporean parents are increasingly concerned about their child’s safety on the internet, according to Google’s ‘APAC Kids and Families Online Safety Survey’, which mainly reveals that seeing inappropriate content online is the most experienced online safety issue by Singaporean children, with one in two children having encountered it at least once in the past year.

These findings come at a time where children in Singapore are spending more time online than ever before, with four out of five local children now spending one to six hours online daily for education and entertainment.

Notably, data from the survey suggests that the top three types of inappropriate content reported by parents were misinformation at 55.4%, deceptive ads and spam at 50.7%, and violent content at 48.7%.

However the survey also revealed that Singaporean parents are becoming less confident in discussing online safety with their children. This year’s survey found that only 79% of respondents feel confident in engaging their children on this topic, down from 83% last year.

Factors for this decline in confidence may include difficulty of finding age-appropriate and easy-to-understand examples of online safety issues and the rapidly evolving nature of the online world. In addition, nearly half of the parents surveyed said they struggle to find the right time to talk to their children about online safety.

Despite these gaps, more than half of respondents said they are willing to allow their children to spend more time online and expect to change digital rules for their child’s Internet use as they grow older. This also draws concern as parents are faced with the need to develop new rules – sometimes before even putting the fundamentals in place – which makes the online journeys of children increasingly challenging to manage.

Speaking on the results, Norman Ng, regional operations lead, trust & safety global engagement at Google Singapore, said, “Our survey results highlight the urgent need to make online safety a central part of their conversations at home. We understand that each family’s relationship with technology is unique, and we encourage parents to make good use of tools such as Family Link and Be Internet Awesome to aid their digital parenting.”

“As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. We remain committed in stepping up our efforts in working collaboratively with industry partners and experts to ensure digital literacy remains more accessible for all,” he added. 

Lastly, the survey also indicated several suggestions and tools that parents can use to a create safer experience online such as age-appropriate content restrictions via Family Link, blurring graphic content through SafeSearch, child-friendly app settings or versions such as Youtube Kids, and online education and safety resources like The library of Digital Safety Resources and the Be Internet Awesome program.