Meta has partnered with the nonprofit organization Childhelp to create a curriculum that teaches middle school students to recognize forms of online exploitation, such as sexual predation scams and grooming. The curriculum has been “fully funded” by Meta and is free to any school, parent or organization.
Meta says the curriculum consists of lesson plans, interactive classroom activities, and videos to help children “safely navigate both the online and offline world.” It was developed in conjunction with child safety experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Department of Homeland Security, the nonprofit organization Thorne, Purdue University, and the Child Abuse Research Center.
Childhelp is an organization that helps neglected and abused children. It also aims to raise awareness of child abuse.
Meta has stepped up efforts to make its platforms safer for children as lawmakers have focused on child safety. Last year, Instagram began moving all teenagers to more private and restricted accounts, and started automatically blurring nude images sent to minors. The platform also introduced new features to combat fraud, including banning users from taking screenshots of disappearing photos in private chats.
At the same time, bills such as the Children’s Internet Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 have passed through the Senate, and the recently passed No Child Left Behind Act aims to prevent children under 13 from creating social media accounts. Some states have passed their own social media safety laws, although most face legal challenges.
