The child safety problem on platforms is worse than we knew

A startling new report finds far more young kids using platforms than we suspected — and they’re having sexual interactions with adults in huge numbers

 
Millions of young children are using platforms years before they turn 13 — and their presence could put many of them in danger. An alarming new study shared exclusively with Platformer has found that minors in the US often receive abuse, harassment, or sexual solicitation from adults on tech platforms. For the most part, though, children say they are not informing parents or other trusted adults about these interactions — and are instead turning for support for tech platforms, whose limited blocking and reporting tools have failed to address the threats they face.

The report from Thorn, a nonprofit organization that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, identifies a disturbing gap in efforts by Snap, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and others to keep children safe. Officially, children are not supposed to use most apps before they turn 13 without adult supervision. In practice, though, the majority of American children are using apps anyway. And even when they block and report bullies and predators, the majority of children say that they are quickly re-contacted by the same bad actors — either via new accounts or separate social platforms.

Among the report’s key findings:

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Πηγή: platformer.news