{"id":1382,"date":"2021-09-30T03:24:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T03:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/?page_id=1382"},"modified":"2021-09-30T05:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T05:10:45","slug":"press-release-our-online-petition-comes-to-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/?page_id=1382","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: DEFEND’s Online Petition Comes to Life!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><\/p>

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Canadian Non-profit DEMANDING Government do More to Protect Kids Online<\/span><\/p>

NPO\u2019s petition targets social media sites.<\/span><\/p>

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – September 29, 2021 \u2013 DEFEND, a volunteer-run not-for-profit aims to reduce risks for children and vulnerable people online by education and advocacy. DEFEND volunteers in Vancouver from our teams are holding a rally to protect children and vulnerable people. The volunteers are gathering signatures on a hard copy petition that is to be served to the federal government in the coming months. DEFEND\u2019s petition calls for legislative changes to happen, and for ALL social media sites to have age\/ID verification for every user.\u00a0Rana, a local DEFEND volunteer from Metro Vancouver, says she is motivated by the organization because she wants to stop online predators \u201c<\/span>DEFEND has opened my eyes to these kinds of risks online, no other organization in Canada is working on this issue, to protect kids online. <\/span>I love to be part of a change in the world, and everything is\u00a0about\u00a0childhood.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
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A tour to gather signatures in several major Canadian cities will roll out starting in Vancouver and heading to the east coast. DEFEND wants Vancouver to speak up about the issues and sign the petition because in 2020 Facebook alone had 20,307,216 reports of child abuse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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DEFEND volunteers will be on hand gathering signatures at:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Robson Square\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>

8 am to 7 pm<\/span><\/b><\/p>

Tuesday October 5, 2021\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>

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DEFEND aims to:<\/span><\/p>

\u25cf\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Educate<\/span>\u00a0parents, kids and the general public about a variety of online risks<\/span><\/p>

\u25cf\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Advocate<\/span>\u00a0for vulnerable people by taking steps to make real changes\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u25cf\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Protect<\/span>\u00a0children by demanding the Canadian\/US governments legislate age\/ID verification on all social media platforms<\/span>
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Currently, DEFEND is run by more than 60 professionals across the world. Some are parents, who are very concerned about their children’s safety using social media. \u201c<\/span>I am not a parent,<\/span>\u201d adds DEFEND volunteer Rana, \u201c<\/span>That doesn\u2019t mean I can\u2019t advocate for what\u2019s right. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the internet, particularly social media. While as adults, we can handle this to a degree, what about our children? How do we protect them and teach them to stay safe when they use social media? It\u2019s important to remember that social media wasn\u2019t designed for children.<\/span>\u201d <\/span>Others are family members or friends of highly vulnerable people who take an interest in protecting those who are potential targets.<\/span><\/p>

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To be proactive, DEFEND is currently working with their Tech Team to develop a new social media platform called 65square which will have age and ID verification built-in from the ground up in case the petition fails. 65square developers believe safety is a priority, more information can be found on Youtube<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>

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For more information, please contact:<\/span><\/p>

Romaine B., Chair of DEFEND<\/span><\/p>

info@HelpUsDefend.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Canadian Non-profit DEMANDING Government do More to Protect Kids Online NPO\u2019s petition targets social media sites. VANCOUVER, British Columbia – September 29, 2021 [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1396,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"wp_social_preview_title":"","wp_social_preview_description":"","wp_social_preview_image":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1382","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1382\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helpusdefend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}