Homeland Security livestream pushes 'Know to Protect' campaign, urges parents to set social media to private and disable photo location

The Department of Homeland Security used a public livestream hosted by John Rich to spotlight KnowToProtect.gov and urge parents to take immediate steps to reduce children's exposure to online exploitation.

Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem opened the event by saying the department’s mission includes protecting children online and introduced the campaign’s materials and partnerships. Special Agent Dennis Fetting of Homeland Security Investigations laid out concrete, quick steps parents can take — set social media accounts from public to private, remove unknown followers, and disable location metadata in camera settings — and pointed viewers to federal hotlines and nonprofit partners for help.

KnowToProtect.gov, the site the department rolled out to gather tips, videos and guidance, is central to the event. "At the Department of Homeland Security, our mission is to protect the American people, and that includes protecting our children," Secretary Christy Noem said during opening remarks. The site and associated Project iGuardian presentations centralize material for parents, educators and teens.

Dennis Fetting, introduced on the livestream as "Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Dennis Fetting," described the practical measures parents can implement in minutes: change social media account settings from public to private, audit and remove unfamiliar followers, and turn off camera/location permissions so images do not carry embedded geolocation data. "This is information that every family needs to hear," Fetting said.

The livestream included demonstrations of how quickly a stranger can find recent photos geolocated to a school or other place and how a texted photo can reveal the sender's precise location when location services are enabled. Fetting advised parents to use built-in parental controls (for example, Apple's Family Sharing and screen-time controls) and to treat a loaned phone as the parent's property, with access and password control retained by the adult.

HSI and partners highlighted reporting resources during the event. The Homeland Security Investigations tip line was displayed on screen as +1 (866) 347-2423; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other partners such as the Family Online Safety Institute and commonsensemedia.org were listed as available supports. The livestream also referenced the "Take It Down" service run by NCMEC for requests to remove exploitative images from platform hosting.

Organizers and federal speakers framed the campaign as a prevention-first effort: public education to reduce the volume of actionable leads and to make children harder to target. The presentation recommended a slow rollout of device and social media access for children, parental agreements for device use, and open conversations about online contacts and content.

For parents who discover a possible victimization, the presenters repeated the same steps: stop contact with the suspected offender, preserve evidence (do not delete messages or images), and contact a trusted adult or law enforcement for assistance. The event closed with a call to share the materials and links widely so more families can adopt the recommended protections.