‘Monitor social media activity of kids’: Karnataka Minister offers solution to cyber crimes

Karnataka's Education Minister Tanver Sait has given instructions to all schools to monitor the students.

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On a day when a shocking tale of a 13-year-old Bengaluru boy’s child sexual abuse and ‘sextortion’ came to light, a Karnataka Minister has a one-stop solution to prevent such crimes – monitoring the social media activity of students.

Read: Twisted tale of child sexual abuse, ‘sextortion’ from Bengaluru: Teen trapped online

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait on Friday said that his Department will send notices to all schools in this regard.

The notice will be issued to schools across all boards and pre-university students.

“We don’t want to restrict children from getting on Facebook. But there is a need to ensure that the harmful effects of social media are curbed,” the minister said.

Sait justified the monitoring of social media pointing to the rise in the number of cases of minors becoming victims of online crimes. He referred to the case of 13-year-old Sandeep* who was blackmailed on social media after being tricked into sending nude photographs of himself and his parents.

"We are coming across many cases wherein miscreants befriend children on social media sites, manage to collect their photographs and blackmail their parents later," the minister said.

He also said that "it would be difficult in the future" if the social media activities of children weren't regulated "at this stage."

As a first step, parents of school children will be asked to check if their kids have started social media accounts by using fake date of births, reports The New Indian Express.

An official order on this is yet to be sent out to schools.