Meta has partnered with Australian youth-driven movement PROJECT ROCKIT to create a series of educational videos, Intimate Images Unwrapped.
The series dives headfirst into important conversations about online intimacy, respect, and consent, co-created by young people for young people.
Intimate image abuse is when someone shares or threatens to share an intimate image or video of a person without their consent.
Many young people have faced the humiliation and long-lasting impact of image-based abuse, and the two organisations have joined forces to help drive change.
The video series from PROJECT ROCKIT is designed to build peer literacy of intimate image-sharing dynamics and is supported by Meta.
This announcement follows Meta's commitment to help protect young people online, including the creation of dedicated products to stop the spread of intimate images, including Take It Down, a first-of-its-kind platform that people can use to proactively prevent intimate images of minors from spreading online.
The educational campaign also underscores the importance of supporting young people to establish healthy boundaries, honour consent and make well-informed choices, championing respect for each other and leveraging the resources available to build safe, positive connections online.
Intimate Images Unwrapped has been co-created with young people utilising PROJECT ROCKIT’s participatory co-design process to leverage the real experiences of 12 everyday young people aged 13–19.
Through a series of co-creation workshops, these young people generated key learning outcomes and video content, which has been artfully woven into eight short-form educational episodes.
The episodes are being rolled out on Instagram with additional resources online: PROJECT ROCKIT’s Instagram; plus an Instagram Guide and PROJECT ROCKIT’s website.
It comes as research from Journal of Adolescent Health in, ‘Are youth sexting rates still on the rise?’ revealed that almost one in five (19.3%) young persons under the age of 18 have sexted (via messages, images, or videos), while more than half this figure (14.5%) forwarded a sext without consent.
Sexting, or otherwise sending of intimate images, was also shown to increase as younger people become older, further reinforcing the need for educational campaigns to remind young people of how to stay safe online, and the possible dangers and consequences of intimate image sharing - no matter your age or circumstance.
PROJECT ROCKIT co-founder & CEO Lucy Thomas said 'Intimate Images Unwrapped,' goes beyond the usual 'just don't do it' advice typically given to young people about sharing images online.
“Through this honest, youth-created series, we dive into the essential dynamics of image-sharing through a framework of respect and dignity. Through this exploration, we are purposefully enhancing young people's abilities to navigate connections, self-expression, and online participation in healthy and empowering ways," she said.
Meta's regional policy director, Mia Garlick, said the company is proud to partner with Australian youth-driven movement, PROJECT ROCKIT, to make a real difference in the prevention of intimate image-sharing cases online.
"We know that many people, especially young people, have been victims of the humiliation of having private images leaked, and Meta is committed to changing this," said Garlick.
"By partnering with PROJECT ROCKIT, we hope to play a role in supporting and protecting young people to help everyone make well-informed choices while honouring consent and healthy boundaries for one another."
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