‘Hotties’ (pretty girls) who make ‘lippies’ (lipsync videos) in ‘kpt’ (broken) nice ‘girls’ houses’. These are common words among teenage girls who use messaging app WhatsApp to post messages that are readable by everyone. Such a channel, a ‘girl house’, is a new form of online interaction that has been noticed by social media experts for about a week. The messages that girls post make them vulnerable to online (sexual) abuse, these experts warn.
In WhatsApp channels, teenagers, often girls between the ages of ten and fifteen, share personal and sometimes sensitive information from their lives with their followers. The groups appear private, but the content is visible to anyone with a WhatsApp account – even to people who do not follow the channel. The channels work like a kind of blog: the administrator (owner) is the only one who can post things. Followers remain anonymous. The owner’s telephone number is protected by default. Unless administrators themselves decide to share it – and the teenage girls in their girls’ houses do that regularly.
“Meidenn, a lipsync is not going to work today because a stick hit my chin during hockey and now it hurts a lot when I move my mouth 😭😭 I will hopefully post one tomorrow and vnv [vanavond] I’m going to make ice cream!!🤍🤍
Girls put a lot of personal information in the channels. They post photos, make videos of themselves lip-syncing songs [playbacken]trying to get a nice picture. “At that age, girls want attention and confirmation,” says Jacqueline Kleijer, a media educator specialized in (online) identity, sexuality and influence. But the wrong people online know how to take advantage of this.
Kleijer: “For girls, puberty can start around the age of eight real life you will then receive one, for example crush on a pop star, or on the boy next door who is much too old. Parents do not always realize that their daughter is going through this development. But the wrong people see that need of girls and respond to it. Especially online.” Digital (self)exposurewith which they show themselves online and their insecurity is clearly visible, attracts attention from the wrong types and makes children vulnerable groomingdigital child enticement, Kleijer warns. Moreover, images can now easily be manipulated. “Think of undressing apps.”
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The information that the girls share is fodder for abusers, according to Marleen Rolaff-Kuijper, digital literacy advisor and spokesperson at Digiwijzer Nederland. Digiwijzer provides information at schools about digital literacy. “Some girls’ channels have hundreds to thousands of followers. They are certainly not all like-minded young girls.” Sometimes girls also share their own phone numbers in their channels. “Then a message can be sent to that number with threats. Sexual extortion is not unthinkable.” The question is not whether young girls will encounter unsavory types online, says Rolaff-Kuijper, but when.
Screenshot of messages about an ‘audition’ that allows teenage girls to become managers of a ‘girls house’, a public channel on WhatsApp.
Screenshot NRC
Do an ‘audition’ with a video
In their channels, girls post messages about their day, makeup, clothes and jewelry. Followers can respond with an emoticon. This varies from positive hearts, thumbs, stars and kisses to negative thumbs down, middle fingers or nauseous-looking dolls. In larger channels, eggplants are also regularly given in response, the symbol of a penis in online language.
Shall I new lip combo [combinatie van lipgloss en lipliner] trynnn???💋
Sometimes the girls do dances or mime songs, as is popular on TikTok. These videos are also in high demand for ‘auditions’. If channels are looking for new administrators who can also share things in the ‘girls house’, they send a link to a separate group app where followers can go to ‘audition’. Anyone can join that group, and anyone can send something there. Unlike channels, telephone numbers in groups are visible to group members.
“FOLLOWGG KPT [kapot] NICE GIRLS HOUSE WITH ONLY HANDSOME ❤️❤️ I’M ALSO DOING AN AUDITION”
Children are not aware of the privacy risks associated with this, and parents do not know that their daughters are doing this, says media educator Kleijer. “Children do not have the ability to realize what is possible with the internet. They need rules.” Moreover, the groups are full of “strong girl venom,” she says. Also not conducive to a child’s development.
Cyberbullying, nude photos and blackmail
Sharing your life in a WhatsApp channel has been possible since June 2023 and is done en masse worldwide. With this feature you can “stay up to date on your favorite topics,” WhatsApp says. It is an accessible way for children to gain followers, thinks media educator Kleijer. “Most people will find WhatsApp a means of communication. But there are more and more options within the app. I think WhatsApp is a social medium, just like Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.” Cyberbullying, sharing nude photos, blackmail: it already happens on the platform. Kleijer thinks that regulations for and content moderation on WhatsApp are “urgently needed”. “Especially with all the new features.”
It is impossible to determine how many Dutch girls’ houses there are, says Rolaff-Kuijper of Digiwijzer. She has been studying the channels for a week now. “The subject surfaced from a class and at a parents’ evening that we organized.” Rolaff-Kuijper notices that parents see WhatsApp as a relatively safe app. “But that is really not the case.”
There are girls who can take advantage of their parents’ ignorance, she thinks. They circumvent agreements made with parents about social media by starting a channel on WhatsApp. Rolaff-Kuijper: “The size of these types of ‘girls’ houses’ is therefore larger than parents think.”
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