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Today is marked as Internet Safety Day by the Manitoba RCMP to highlight the work of the Internet Child Exploitation Unit, or ICE.

The rise of social media content creation has spawned a problem of Self-Exploitation, which is generally defined as youth creating, sending, or sharing sexual images and/or videos of themselves with peers online or through electronic devices.

Manitoba's ICE unit reported a notable jump in reports of cases like this from social media apps, going up from 242 reports in 2022, to 652 reports last year.

The RCMP offers some tips for online safety, which focus on monitoring your child's online activity and teaching the importance of online etiquette.

Corporal Gord Olson of the ICE unit encourages parents and guardians to discuss with their children about online safety, noting that "safe online habits can go a long way to protecting kids from exploitation, but parent awareness is key".