Media education helps the child to recognize his own rights online.
Like has been downloaded more than 500 million times from the Google app store. Satyajit Shaw/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
- Outwardly, Likee looks like Tiktok, which is popular with children and young people
- Children can use the application after accepting the safety clause developed by the company itself
- Manipulation of sexual activity also occurs in other applications
A social media application called Likee has recently become popular among Finnish children. Externally, the application looks very similar to Tiktok. Likee is registered in Singapore and its parent company is the Chinese company JOYY.
According to Iltalehti’s reader, her 13-year-old daughter was approached in the service with, among other things, nude photos and questions coming late into the night, if she would like to talk. The discussion requests also included instructions on how to take the “perfect selfie”.
Sharing such tips with a child is probably not done purely with harmless photography tips in mind. Most likely, the effort has been to manipulate the child.
The Vpnoverview site also tells, that the application is not childproof. Children can install the application after accepting the Privacy Statement intended for children.
The application collects facial recognition data, data from other applications and location data from its users, among other things. According to vpnoverview, the application also knows the payment information stored on the phone.
According to Google’s application store, the age limit for Like is 13 years.
The story continues after the question form.
“The phenomenon only shows the tip of the iceberg”
The application is also known to the Mannerheim Children’s Protection Association (MLL). According to them, there are plenty of similar phenomena in other applications as well. The phenomenon is also known as grooming, where an adult manipulates a child for exploitation.
– For parents, this phenomenon is only the tip of the iceberg. The phenomenon is probably more common than is known, MLL head of school cooperation and digital youth work Paula Aalto tells Iltalehte.
Adults may not be able to recognize this effectively, because even adults face many disadvantages of the internet. The problems are known, but the scope of the problem may be numbing, which means that even adults may not be able to react to it.
At the same time, children spend more and more of their time on the Internet. Aalto proclaims the importance of media education, and that the child should know his rights.
– Children are certainly exposed to a lot of things that we don’t get any kind of information about. The child should also have an understanding of when the crime threshold has been crossed.
The importance of media education
The use of the child’s phone is ultimately the adult’s responsibility. Children’s understanding of the digital world often reflects the digitalization of their parents.
– Nowadays, children get a smartphone at a very early stage, which enables them to use it independently. The people working with technology development and legislation are ultimately adults who ensure the safety of the digital environment, Aalto states.
Aalto compares the digital world to letting a child alone in traffic. Children themselves do not cause danger, but it is often caused by other traffic users who do not respect others – the same also in the digital world.
– However, we have children and young people with very extensive digital skills in society. Many children and young people can eventually be much more digitally aware of what they think.
MLL has published this week Blue light generation campaignwhich aims to give advice and support to parents in media education.
Save the Children also has it at its disposal online hint service where you can report if you suspect that you have encountered sexual violence against a child online, or that you have been enticed to do so.