Teenagers often share sexually explicit pictures, and they end up on the internet and kids are haunted by those images for years.
Now, there is a free and anonymous way for people to remove those images thanks to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Take It Down works with ten companies, including Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, that have agreed to help take down those inappropriate photos or videos of people under 18 and you don’t have to send or download the pictures or videos.
For a long time, teenagers didn’t think there was any way to get sexually explicit pictures removed from online, but the Take it Down website now offers them a way to do that, and it’s free and easy to use.
You start by going to takeitdown.ncmec.org and clicking on Get Started.
You answer a few questions, including if the images have already been shared online and if you have the images on a device and you can select up to 10 of them.
You don’t have to download them, but the site will add a hash to the photos, which is the same as a digital fingerprint that allows sites to track and follow those photos and remove them from sites that are participating with the Center.
So, again, your pictures and videos will not go anywhere; the only thing taken is the hash of the picture or video.
If someone shares a nude, partially nude or sexually explicit image or video taken when someone was under 18 years old, it could be considered child sexual abuse material or child pornography.
For people who are over 18 who have had intimate images shared, they can go to the CyberTipline at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website for help and suggestions.
