Recently a Facebook campaign claiming to raise awareness of child abuse has been spreading across the social media hub, with millions of members changing their profile pictures to old cartoon characters.
Complying, Facebook users’ status updates now read something like: “Change your profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face until Monday, Dec. 6. Join the fight against child abuse, copy & paste to your status, and invite your friends to do the same”.
Facebook is a powerful tool for raising awareness with more than 500 million people connected to the Internet giant. However, this latest trend is overshadowed by comments on Facebook that it is a scam, with some even saying it may actually have been started by child abusers.
Yet other posts suggest the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) spearheaded the campaign, as the NSPCC website is the first one listed on the anonymous Facebook page, along with childhelp.org and stopitnow.org. However, the NSPCC said on Twitter that it is not responsible for the campaign, although it welcomes “the attention it has brought to the work we do.”
The Los Angeles Times notes that the campaign has no actual website or information regarding its history or details of the issues involved. Nor is there any way to make a donation.
And Mashable states, “the origins of this campaign remain a mystery, as it doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any official organization.“ The blogging site points out that, ”at least in the U.S., National Child Abuse Prevention Month isn’t until April.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed it is not a scam, according to WhatIsTheTrend. However, it remains unclear as to how exactly the profile-changing trend helps against child abuse.
Complying, Facebook users’ status updates now read something like: “Change your profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face until Monday, Dec. 6. Join the fight against child abuse, copy & paste to your status, and invite your friends to do the same”.
Facebook is a powerful tool for raising awareness with more than 500 million people connected to the Internet giant. However, this latest trend is overshadowed by comments on Facebook that it is a scam, with some even saying it may actually have been started by child abusers.
Yet other posts suggest the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) spearheaded the campaign, as the NSPCC website is the first one listed on the anonymous Facebook page, along with childhelp.org and stopitnow.org. However, the NSPCC said on Twitter that it is not responsible for the campaign, although it welcomes “the attention it has brought to the work we do.”
The Los Angeles Times notes that the campaign has no actual website or information regarding its history or details of the issues involved. Nor is there any way to make a donation.
And Mashable states, “the origins of this campaign remain a mystery, as it doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any official organization.“ The blogging site points out that, ”at least in the U.S., National Child Abuse Prevention Month isn’t until April.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed it is not a scam, according to WhatIsTheTrend. However, it remains unclear as to how exactly the profile-changing trend helps against child abuse.
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