A horrified mum has issued a warning to other parents after pictures of her six-month-old baby were ‘stolen’ from TikTok and shared on Instagram by strangers.

Kirsty, 22, had been enjoying making ‘silly videos’ with her daughter to ‘pass the time’ in lockdown when she was told an Instagram account was reposting the clips. Over the next 24 hours, she found more than 20 other accounts using screenshots or videos of her baby.

She then frantically began asking for the removal of the posts, but many of the accounts refused to delete, stating that it would ‘ruin their engagement’ or ‘lose them likes’.

Kirsty told Metro.co.uk she began to feel desperate as it seemed ‘impossible’ to stop the pictures circulating. She continued: ‘It’s broken my heart how people can be so heartless and uncaring. How can someone watch a mother beg and plead and then sit back and laugh? It’s awful.

‘I understand completely it’s my fault for not being more careful [on TikTok], but they refuse to delete them. They won’t listen to me.

‘It’s horrifying the amount of pages that have been opened purely to steal images of “cute babies” from parents who thought they were safe on the internet. Almost 95% of the posts have the caption “unknown credit”.

‘Some of these pages even have millions of followers, and there are comments on pictures such as “could you send me this video privately” or “this baby is attractive”. It’s disgusting. They need to be banned.’

On TikTok, Kirsty had unticked the setting which allows her videos to be downloaded or shared by other people. She said it didn’t cross her mind that the clips could still be screen-recorded or screenshotted by strangers.

After being told about one account, she was able to find more pictures of her daughter on Instagram by simply using the hashtags ‘#cutebaby’ and ‘#babygirl’. She then began messaging them to ask for the posts to be removed – but her requests were refused.

In one exchange, the person behind ‘Babies_us2’ tells her that removing the image will ‘ruin the engagement’, while ‘Kidsthemostbeautiful’ flat out said they would not delete them. Both accounts have since been deleted.

Kirsty later shared her experience on social media, and spent ‘three days in tears’ after other parents sent her abuse telling her it was her fault. She is now sharing her story in the hopes that it will raise awareness about safety online.

She said: ‘I know I’m to blame for even letting pictures of my baby be public, I wish I never did it.

‘The reason I’m sharing this is for all the other parents whose babies have been shared without their permission who probably aren’t even aware. [I want] to make sure people are more careful about what they post about their child in the future.

‘These people don’t care, they just want likes and followers. I’ve learned my mistake now and I won’t be doing it again.’

TikTok currently has more than 800,000,000 users worldwide, the majority of whom are between the ages of 16 and 24. New accounts are public by default, meaning anyone can view the content unless the settings are changed.

If children are old enough to use the app themselves, their parents can put a passcode on their account, limit their access hours or control the app from their own phone.

Meanwhile, if images are shared to Instagram without consent, they can be reported through the app or online. Instagram recommends taking a screenshot of the content for evidence.

Andy Burrows, Head of Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, told Metro.co.uk that it can be ‘very distressing’ for parents to see a video they posted end up on a completely different social media platform.

He said: ‘Whilst it’s not something you might think about, we know this can happen all too easily. Given content may end up in the wrong hands, it’s really important parents are mindful of what they share online.  

‘Parents should also encourage their children to think about what they share online and who sees it. Try comparing it to what they would be happy to share offline and remind them that they shouldn’t share personal information, photos of their body or hurtful messages.‘

For advice on keeping children safe online, visit NSPCC’s Net Aware here.

Names have been changed in this story.

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