A controversial online competition has captured the attention of concerned parents.
The "Most Beautiful Teen" contest, which started on Facebook, encouraged young adults to upload pictures to the site and vote on who they think should be declared the winner.
Photos often gave way to a series of rude, inappropriate and mean-spirited comments. And as some participants uploaded provocative pictures, the situation quickly began spiraling out of control.
Marcy Kemp-Rank's 15-year-old daughter participated in the contest, but her mother began to worry the competition encouraged online bullying after reading some of the remarks, ABC News reports.
"I couldn't handle hearing [the comments] because it just made me very upset and angry," Marcy Kemp-Rank told the station.
To another mom, the site's public accessibility has raised major red flags about the safety of the minors involved.
"Underneath my daughter's picture was comments from two men, asking how old she was and then one asked if she knew what a pedophile was and to look it up,"Paula Jones told the U.K.'s Leigh Reporter.
And Jones is not the only one to notice the potential dangers of the photo gallery.
"It is an absolute pool for people that like this sort of thing for the absolute wrong reason," John Abell, New York bureau chief for Wired.com, told ABC News.
Facebook later shut down the page, saying the contest violated some of the company's terms of use.
Nevertheless, the New York Daily News reports that several alternate versions of the contest remain scattered throughout the web.
A few Tumblr users caught wind of the contest and took to the social blogging platform to express their feelings.
One user said she can't believe such a competition existed in the first place.
"Asking random people to determine if you're attractive? Everyone is beautiful, who are we people to judge others appearances?" the blogger wrote.
What do you think of the contest? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.