An investigative report claims that Kik Messenger, an instant messaging app popular with children and teenagers, has become “the defacto app for grooming children online,” in part due to its ease of access to minors.
The report is a collaboration between British investigative media company Point and Forbes, which found that predators quickly move to contact and groom under-age users on the service, aided by third-party apps that help share profiles.
Point and Forbes found that Kik is frequently cited by law enforcement as a tool used by predators, with one official writing that the app is popular because “it is free, simple to set up, easily accessible, potentially anonymous and allows users to share digital data privately."
At the time, Kik was working to take steps to “assist in preventing child exploitation,” which included posting a law enforcement guide and sponsoring an annual conference on crimes against children.
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An investigative report claims that Kik Messenger, an instant messaging app popular with children and teenagers, has become “the defacto app for grooming children online,” in part due to its ease of access to minors.
The report is a collaboration between British investigative media company Point and Forbes, which found that predators quickly move to contact and groom under-age users on the service, aided by third-party apps that help share profiles.
Point and Forbes found that Kik is frequently cited by law enforcement as a tool used by predators, with one official writing that the app is popular because “it is free, simple to set up, easily accessible, potentially anonymous and allows users to share digital data privately."
At the time, Kik was working to take steps to “assist in preventing child exploitation,” which included posting a law enforcement guide and sponsoring an annual conference on crimes against children.
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I mean it's not surprising. What social media outlet isn't a hub for predators?
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An investigative report claims that Kik Messenger, an instant messaging app popular with children and teenagers, has become “the defacto app for grooming children online,” in part due to its ease of access to minors.
The report is a collaboration between British investigative media company Point and Forbes, which found that predators quickly move to contact and groom under-age users on the service, aided by third-party apps that help share profiles.
Point and Forbes found that Kik is frequently cited by law enforcement as a tool used by predators, with one official writing that the app is popular because “it is free, simple to set up, easily accessible, potentially anonymous and allows users to share digital data privately."
At the time, Kik was working to take steps to “assist in preventing child exploitation,” which included posting a law enforcement guide and sponsoring an annual conference on crimes against children.
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Yeah, this has been going on for years, even a few months after Kik was released.
Not just Kik I'm sure, every chat app probably has them, it will only get worse, IV warned my kids about such nasty people and they understand the dangers.