Gloucestershire Police issues WhatsApp group message warning
Children as young as 11 have been exposed to racist and sexual content.
Gloucestershire Police is urging parents to check the group WhatsApp settings on their children's phones after children were exposed to inappropriate content.
The force says its aware of a number of 11 year olds viewing sexual violence and racist content via group chats.
Officers have received reports that children in the county have been automatically added to a group without their knowledge or permission.
Once in the group, which has an American phone number prefix, they're encouraged to add everyone in their contacts and are then sent upsetting sexually violent and racist content.
Group members are then warned that if they leave the chat, they will be found.
We're now asking parents whose children use WhatsApp to check the settings on the messaging app so that they cannot be added to groups by unknown third parties.