Glossary of Terms

Software application that uses artificial intelligence to simulate human-like conversation. It can understand, process, and respond to text or voice inputs. These bots can suggest sexual and suicidal content.

Sexual images or videos of minors that are created, altered, or manipulated using artificial intelligence that may involve real children or realistic fabricated images and are used for exploitation, abuse, or harassment.

Algorithms are built to promote the content the user seems interested in viewing based on their past and current activity. If a teen searches for any type of mental health condition – depression, suicide, eating disorders, for example, the algorithm will serve information about those things drawing the teen into a rabbit hole of harmful content. The young person may begin to think that everyone around them is also experiencing the same feelings and may not seek help from a parent or caregiver. Endless scrolling can lead to overstimulation of the brain.

Preventing someone from seeing or contacting you

The act of creating a fake online identity to deceive others, often for fraudulent or manipulative purposes

Cyberbullying refers to use of digital tools to bully or hurt others online. This kind of harassment can leave deep emotional scars that negatively impact mental health.

Content that appears to be real can actually be masked by artificial intelligence-generated images and sounds. Deepfake technology uses AI to create fake voices, images, videos, and conversation making it hard to tell what's real and what's not.

Social media can create addictive behaviors by fostering a constant need for validation through likes and shares, which can lead to excessive screen time and decreased real-life interactions and time spent outdoors. This addiction can negatively impact mental health, contributing to anxiety and depression as users become more reliant on virtual approval.

Direct Message; a private message sent between users on social media platforms

End-to-end encryption is a security method that protects digital communications so that only the sender and the intended recipient can read the information. The data is encrypted (turned into unreadable code) on the sender’s device and can only be decrypted (turned back into readable form) on the recipient’s device.

Exposure to violent, explicit or graphic content, exposure to pornography, including child sex abuse material (CSAM), and sharing an explicit image of a minor or a crime

Stream of posts from accounts you follow

Fear Of Missing Out; anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere

Geolocation is the process of identifying the real-world geographic location of a device, person, or object using digital information such as GPS, Wi-Fi signals, cell towers, or IP addresses.

To stop engaging with someone online suddenly and without explanation

Username or account name (e.g. @username)

Image Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) encompasses a range of harmful activities that weaponize sexually explicit or sexualized materials against the persons they depict. IBSA includes the creation, theft, extortion, threatened or actual distribution, or any use of sexually explicit or sexualized materials without the meaningful consent of the person or persons depicted and/or for purposes of sexual exploitation. It also includes sexual violence or harassment committed towards a person’s representation (e.g., a person’s avatar) in virtual reality or online gaming. If the victim is age 18 and above, it is not considered a form of CSAM or OSEAC.

A person with a significant following on social media who can impact their audience’s opinions and behaviors

An IP address (Internet Protocol Address) is a unique string of numbers (and sometimes letters) assigned to every device connected to the internet. It acts like a digital home address, allowing computers, smartphones, and servers to find and communicate with each other across networks.

Social media exposes young people to pornography, violent, dangerous, gruesome and offensive content. Comparing one’s own life to others, eating, viewing and/or participating in dangerous pranks/challenges, unrestricted and unlimited access to negative content can cause serious harm.

Tagging or referring to another user in a post or comment, usually by using the “@” symbol followed by their username

Misinformation and fake news are commonly spread on social media, and users are unable to distinguish between fake and real news.

The use of electronic means to stalk or harass someone, such as tracking their online activity or physical location, or making death threats.

Online predators and traffickers use the anonymity of the internet to trick and manipulate vulnerable young people. The interaction may start with interacting on social media, then the predator moves the conversation to another platform which could ultimately lead to an in-person meet-up.This "grooming" by the predator may result in a potentially very dangerous situation.Let’s take a deeper look at some of these risks.

Sharing too much personal information and friending people your child doesn't know well in real life can be risky. It's not just about digital security; sharing too much personal information online can also put a child's physical safety and life at risk. Platforms encourage users to share everything about themselves including age, address, school, hobbies/sports, photos/videos, hangout spots, where you work

A scammer may try to obtain personal information, extort/sextort money or explicit images, share false information or make false claims).

Sexual images or videos created by a minor of themselves that may be shared voluntarily or under pressure and can be distributed without consent or used for coercion, including sextortion.

The act of sending, receiving, or sharing sexually explicit or provocative messages, images, or videos, typically through digital devices and often begins as a form of flirtation or an attempt to gain attention or affection. However, it can quickly escalate into a serious issue, particularly when images are shared without consent (non consensual imagery), fall into the wrong hands, or are used to bully, shame, or exploit the sender.

Sextortion is a form of child sexual exploitation where children are threatened or blackmailed, most often with the possibility of sharing nude or sexual images by a person who demands additional sexual content, sexual activity or money from the child. This crime may happen when a child has shared an image with someone they thought they knew or trusted, but in many cases they are targeted by an individual they met online who obtained a sexual image from the child through deceit, coercion, or some other method.

Temporary post that typically disappears after 24 hours

Series of connected posts or replies

Tor is a tool that hides a user’s identity and online activity by routing internet traffic through multiple servers, making it difficult to trace who they are or what they do online. While TOR has legitimate privacy uses, it is also commonly used by criminals, predators, and traffickers to conceal illegal activity online.

Topics/hashtags currently popular or widely discussed

Slang for the practice of making comments or posts online to provoke an argument, hostility or any emotional response, also sometimes called “baiting,” is often designed to create drama.

Sharing someone else’s post to your followers

Content that spreads rapidly through shares/reposts

A VPN is a service that creates a secure, encrypted connection between your device and the internet by routing your traffic through a private server. This hides your real IP address, protects your data from hackers, and allows you to appear as if you’re connecting from another location.