Parents in Georgia fight for social media protection after their daughter falls victim to an online predator

ATLANTA, Georgia (Atlanta News First) – A group of parent advocates held a “day of action” on Tuesday.

They joined ParentsTogether to ask Facebook parent company Meta for more safety features and parental controls. They sent a letter to Meta over a year ago and said they have received no response.

Stephen Carnes, who lives in Rome, Georgia, participated in the call. Stephen's daughter, Eryn, met a sextortionist posing as a teenager through an online game and continued to communicate with the person through Facebook.

Stephen said the man convinced Eryn they were in a relationship so he could get pictures of her and then told her to kill herself. She was 15 when her younger sister found her dead, she had committed suicide.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you are being given the opportunity to save other families from the unspeakable horror that my family has experienced. I want to help you achieve a positive outcome to prevent this exploitation of our children,” Carnes said. “Mr. Zuckerberg, you are being given the chance to create positive change that could leave your name as a force for good in the face of evil.”

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports that sextortion has increased 323% in the last two years. In the last year alone, over 100 million images of child sexual abuse, which are often the focus of sextortion, were reported.

RELATED: FBI reports 700 percent increase in online sextortion schemes targeting teens

Meta has stated that they have made great strides in reducing sextortion cases. In April, they announced that they were testing new features and partnering with Lantern to help stop criminal activity on their platforms.

Parents were not satisfied. They urged House leadership to vote on the Kids Online Safety Act, which passed the U.S. Senate last month after two years of lobbying.

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FBI observes an increase in online sextortion crimes against children in Atlanta and warns parents

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