MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The new season of “Into the Cloud”, an animated web series available on NetSmartz, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s online safety program for children ages 17 and younger, features the prevention of online enticement and exploitation of minors as a main focus.
Online enticement is seen as an adult’s inappropriate communication with a minor on the internet, with the suspected intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction.
Online enticement has become an alarming issue, especially after NCMEC released data from its 2020 exploitation statistics, revealing that 2020 data showed a 97.5% increase in online enticement reports.
Episodes from season two of "Into the Cloud" include age appropriate scenarios that introduce children to what online predatory behavior looks like, offering ways to prevent cyberbullying, online sexual abuse, and online enticement.
Season two added a few new characters. The character “Spyder” reports cyberbullying, the sharing of inappropriate pictures, and other forms of exploitation.
Original characters like “Clicky”, a safety robot who teaches kids how to be safer online, and Officer Armstrong, who catches those using the internet for illegal purposes, also contribute to teaching children how to use the internet safely and report safety violations.
The organization also reported that there were more than 21.7 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation made to the organization’s cyber tip line, which is the highest number of reports received in one year.
Although it is hard to pinpoint why data collected from 2020 showed such a distinct increase in offense reporting, NCEMC suspects that heightened frequencies in reporting may be because the pandemic and the increased use of online communications for children and adults.
In addition to NetSmartz, NCEMC provides other safety and prevention resources for families like KidSmartz, Code Adam, and Safe to Complete, which, according to the organization, helps educate children and families on ways to prevent abduction, set safety protocols for businesses, and provides guidelines that protect child athletes from sexual abuse.
All episodes for season two of ‘Into the cloud” can be watched on NetsSmartz.
Parents who are looking for support to help their children cope with experiences of online enticement can email gethelp@ncmec.org or call 877-446-2632. Victims of online enticement and sexual exploitation can also remove online explicit content and report offenses by visiting NCEMC’s get help tab.
To report suspected abuse and neglect, contact the Memphis Child Advocacy Center or the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
