Social media is one of the fastest and widely used communication methods amongst the world nowadays.

Some of the most famous social media applications for communication includes WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and even Kik Messenger.


However, while these apps have been developed to improve communication, they also have a dark side!

According to an investigation, which was prepared in collaboration between British investigative media company, Point and Forbes, Kik has become a hub for child molesters!

“it is free, simple to set up, easily accessible, potentially anonymous and allows users to share digital data; privately.”

Given its popularity, predators use profiles, pictures, and other details can easily be easily extracted and shared via third-party apps.

Even though the company behind the application tried to take the needed steps to protect their users, but the reports highlights that;

 “evidence of a vast number of child exploitation cases involving the use of Kik and that predators continue to use the app to target children.”

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Strangers Amongst Friends

Given that the users are mostly children and teenagers, it is very easy for them to fall for a false trap and leak personal information, unintentionally. For example, nowadays the cases of fake social media profiles have become very common.

A male predator can make a fake female profile, make friends, and trick young boys and girls into submitting information. Often, elder predators pretend to be young teenagers and ask for inappropriate pictures and then misuse them.

Exploitation 

A state law enforcement official interviewed by The New York Times in February 2016 identified Kik as “the problem app of the moment” due to many cases of child exploitation. The application has got into trouble several times with law enforcement on and off.

In March 2015, the company adopted a more aggressive strategy by utilizing Microsoft’s PhotoDNA cloud service to automatically detect, delete, and report the distribution of child exploitation images on its app

Precautions 

In order to keep children and teens safe, Kik needs to improve their policy and their vetting methods, which is given. However, parents and the children themselves have to make an extra effort to keep on alert.

The parents need to talk to their children and explain to them how molestation is not a joke and is a serious crime and needs to be handled. Children need to understand that their images can be shared on inappropriate websites and forums for the wrong purposes.

Have you come across any applications which give you the same concern? Sharyourr story with us!

Stay tuned to Brandsyanrio for more news and updates.

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