Embarrassing DM Flirtations Among Teens... The 'Black Hand' Invading Even SNS

Teenagers Posting Faces and Personal Information on TikTok, Instagram, etc.

Indiscriminate Flood of Sexual Messages Including "I'll Pay You If We Meet" Conditional Meetings

Unprotected Exposure to Digital Sex Crimes, Reporting Age at Center Getting Younger

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don, Intern Reporter Park Joon] A, a so-called 'influencer' with 110,000 followers on the social networking service (SNS) Instagram. She is a high school student who receives messages about 4 to 5 times a day. Most are from men, presumed to be adults rather than peers. The content is embarrassing to relay. Messages like "I'm going crazy right now" or "Please sell stockings" are mild compared to others. A said, "I created the SNS account to collect daily photos, but I feel uncomfortable because these messages keep coming."

B, another high school student who posts photos on Instagram and another SNS, TikTok, also receives messages requesting 'conditional meetings' about twice a month. B said, "Many people say they will give money if we meet," adding, "I block every message that comes, but it's not easy to stop them all."

As SNS increasingly serves commercial purposes such as attracting advertising sponsorships beyond communication with acquaintances, such side effects have become more common. Teenagers are also following the trend of promoting themselves to the public on SNS or even 'branding' themselves to earn income. When they post photos or videos that highlight their appearance on SNS, they sometimes receive advertising offers from cosmetics or clothing companies. Whether commercial or not, since the goal is to 'widely promote' themselves, they have to make all photos public, which leads to frequent contact from 'bad adults' who see them.

A parent of a child who is an Instagram influencer said, "I often witnessed adult men flirting with my child's posts," adding, "Posting faces and expressing individuality on SNS is the culture among kids these days, so it's difficult to block or interfere."

The age range of children reporting digital sexual crime victimization to child counseling centers is getting younger. Park Hye-young, deputy director of the Seoul Sunflower Women and Children Center, said, "There was even a case of a first grader in elementary school contacting the center," adding, "Simple message exchanges on SNS create a much more harmful environment than in the past."

In response, YouTube completely blocked the messaging function last year, and TikTok has prohibited users under 16 from exchanging messages without parental consent starting this year. However, Instagram has no such restrictions.

Experts point out that legislative discussions are needed to prevent sexual crimes related to these behaviors. Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University said, "Since most SNS messages are one-on-one private chats, it is difficult to regulate," adding, "Legislative discussions for preventing digital sexual crimes, such as online grooming punishment laws like those overseas, should be conducted."