Popular social media platform Snapchat was called out as the most commonly used platform for online grooming. This was confirmed by recent police figures quoted in a study by children’s charity NSPCC.
Nearly 7000 child offenses were recorded across the United Kingdom, which is said to be a record figure. Moreover, the study showed how the app gave rise to 1824 cases where those involved used the app for grooming purposes.
This study also gave rise to a new finding related to how society is waiting for the tech world to make up and make their apps a safer space for kids. When asked to comment on the matter, Snapchat said it didn’t have any tolerance for issues like this.
They further explained by mentioning how plenty of safety measures were put into place for both teenagers and their parents/guardians. However, it does not look like regulators are too convinced with everything being said.
They feel Snapchat needs to do more as they create a space and ensuring all users remain safe with them at all times is their sole responsibility. Regulators like to strengthen the rules that apps must follow.
More alarming findings in the study spoke about how the victims’ gender for grooming was not recorded by the cops. Most of these cases were not known and four out of the five victims were females.
One victim whose identity is yet to be revealed was only eight when a groomer approached her and encouraged her to use Snap for conversations. A lot of shocking things happened there including requests for certain videos, images, and whatnot, her shocked and devastated mother explained.
After that, a fake profile was made through the platform by the mom where the user acted like they were the daughter. Hence, when the man started to message her again, she informed the police.
Now, after this huge wake-up call, she keeps on checking her daughter’s devices and messages each week, despite her daughter showing objections. After all, her mom says it’s better to be safe than sorry, asking other parents to do the same.
So what is the issue with Snapchat and how does it target users for such purposes so easily? As per the study, the problem is in the app’s design. While it’s a smaller-scale app in the UK, it’s used very frequently by kids and teens.
This is really something that adults might exploit when on a mission to groom kids. The app’s design was also called out as risky for young users. The fact that images and messages disappear after one day makes it so much harder to track what’s going on, especially wrong behavior.
The charity group NSPCC says it hears the voices and opinions of kids who like to single the platform out as a concerning space. While Snapchat did speak about such acts as horrific, they also tried to justify that if and when it’s reported, they do everything to take immediate action. This includes account disabling and reporting to respective authorities.
Read next: Instagram Introduces Tools To Allow Users To Sort And Filter DMs
Nearly 7000 child offenses were recorded across the United Kingdom, which is said to be a record figure. Moreover, the study showed how the app gave rise to 1824 cases where those involved used the app for grooming purposes.
This study also gave rise to a new finding related to how society is waiting for the tech world to make up and make their apps a safer space for kids. When asked to comment on the matter, Snapchat said it didn’t have any tolerance for issues like this.
They further explained by mentioning how plenty of safety measures were put into place for both teenagers and their parents/guardians. However, it does not look like regulators are too convinced with everything being said.
They feel Snapchat needs to do more as they create a space and ensuring all users remain safe with them at all times is their sole responsibility. Regulators like to strengthen the rules that apps must follow.
More alarming findings in the study spoke about how the victims’ gender for grooming was not recorded by the cops. Most of these cases were not known and four out of the five victims were females.
One victim whose identity is yet to be revealed was only eight when a groomer approached her and encouraged her to use Snap for conversations. A lot of shocking things happened there including requests for certain videos, images, and whatnot, her shocked and devastated mother explained.
After that, a fake profile was made through the platform by the mom where the user acted like they were the daughter. Hence, when the man started to message her again, she informed the police.
Now, after this huge wake-up call, she keeps on checking her daughter’s devices and messages each week, despite her daughter showing objections. After all, her mom says it’s better to be safe than sorry, asking other parents to do the same.
So what is the issue with Snapchat and how does it target users for such purposes so easily? As per the study, the problem is in the app’s design. While it’s a smaller-scale app in the UK, it’s used very frequently by kids and teens.
This is really something that adults might exploit when on a mission to groom kids. The app’s design was also called out as risky for young users. The fact that images and messages disappear after one day makes it so much harder to track what’s going on, especially wrong behavior.
The charity group NSPCC says it hears the voices and opinions of kids who like to single the platform out as a concerning space. While Snapchat did speak about such acts as horrific, they also tried to justify that if and when it’s reported, they do everything to take immediate action. This includes account disabling and reporting to respective authorities.
Read next: Instagram Introduces Tools To Allow Users To Sort And Filter DMs
