A SOCIAL media campaign to protect young people from criminal exploitation has been a success after thousands of teenagers directly responded to it.

The Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) and Crimestoppers said they were delighted after nearly 10,000 13 to 17-year-olds, many of them females, clicked on and engaged with a County Lines crime awareness campaign.

Awareness messages and videos were shared on both Snapchat and TikTok in a four-week Christmas blitz across the region.

Eighty three per cent of responders to Snapchat were from the teenage audience targeted by authorities in the four-week campaign in partnership with Fearless, the youth service of independent charity Crimestoppers.

Authorities said they were pleased that females made up about 87 per cent of those who reacted to the advice, as they could be particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

The messages directed users to the Fearless.org website, allowing people to find out more about county lines crime and highlighting the risks of potential predatory criminals approaching young people online.

Detective Inspector Mark Catney said: “Our research shows that social media is used by crime groups to target young people, so we are using it as the best way to reach those most at risk and counter those who seek to use these platforms to ruin young people’s lives.”