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HSI demonstration shows how Instagram, Snapchat and games help predators find children — 'lock accounts, purge strangers, disable location,' agent says
Summary
A Homeland Security Investigations special agent demonstrated during a livestream how easy it can be for a stranger to locate and contact minors through public social media posts, follower lists, Snap Map location data and gaming platforms, and urged parents to make accounts private and disable metadata.
Homeland Security Investigations used a public livestream to show parents how predators can cross-reference social media, online gaming and image metadata to identify and target children.
Special Agent Dennis Fetting demonstrated searching a location on Instagram, finding recent geolocated school photos and then following linked public accounts to reach individual teens. He warned that Snap Maps and other live-location features can reveal a child’s daily movements to anyone in their follower lists and urged parents to "unenroll" devices from…
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