Be careful about posting pictures of your baby on Instagram, as it had emerged that there are groups of people stealing these photos for their own sinister games.
 
The trend is called “baby role-playing” and it involves users stealing baby pictures from Instagram, and using them to create an elaborate fantasy. Sometimes the discussion is quite innocent – users talking about playing with the baby or feeding them – but it can also turn sexual and violent.
 
Parents have been horrified to stumble across photos of their children being used for these creepy games, and have banded together to bring it to public attention.
 
Corinne Chaimovitz, a mum from Toronto who started campaigning against the practice with the hashtag #downwithbabyrp, was shocked by how dark the games were.
 
“When this began, we just wanted to get the stolen pictures removed. None of us ever expected any of this,” she said.
 
“As time went on the posts we were seeing went from disturbing to vile. Some were being abused both physically and sexually and some were being even killed off.”
 
Randi, an LA photographer, came across the practice after she had her first child.
 
“Some seem pretty harmless and do not bother me too much, besides the fact that they are stealing photos,” she said, “but the accounts where people are playing out sexual or abuse storylines are just awful.
 
“These people clearly are not right in their mind. Who knows how many of these weirdos have molested children in real life; obviously they think about it and it is a ‘turn on’ for them. I don't understand how it is OK for people to run accounts like this. It’s basically child pornography.”
 
Parents are angry at Instagram for their slowness in acting against these accounts, claiming that they stay active weeks after being reported.
 
A spokesperson for the site promised that, “Once a parent or guardian reports it to us, we work quickly to remove it”, confirming that “This type of content violates our terms.”
 
Mum Elizabeth Harper however told reporters that a stolen picture of her baby girl is still active, over 27 weeks after reporting it.

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