Unplug24, a campaign aiming to save lives by preventing sextortion and suicide, is seeking donations of distressed ad space.
After Mac Holdsworth, a 17-year-old boy, took his own life after being sexually extorted by a middle-aged man pretending to be a young girl last year, his father Wayne started a charity called SmackTalk to create a movement to help stop sextortion and prevent suicides.
This year, SmackTalk launched Unplug24, a campaign to get people off social media for 24 hours on October 24.
The campaign, held on the one-year anniversary of Mac's death, will help raise awareness and funds to prevent sexual extortion and suicide.
Wayne Holdsworth said he hopes ad companies and publications donate distressed ad space during the next few weeks to help promote the campaign.
"We really need support to help save lives," he said.
“We’d also really like people to sign up on the Unplug24 site to show their support, even if they aren’t able to fundraise.
"A lot of sexual extortion starts through social media and we are calling for people to have 24 hours cutting off avenues where sexual extortion takes place.
"Urgent change is needed to save lives and this campaign is seeking to raise awareness and funds to educate people all over the country."
This week, the government has announced that they are looking to raise the age of social media access for children, a move Holdsworth strongly supports.
More than 3200 Australians took their own lives in 2023. That’s more than 60 a week and an average of eight lives a day. Suicide takes three times more lives than the road toll in Australia each year.
Sextortion cases have increased by nearly 400% in the past 18 months.
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