Warnings of paedophilia on apps marketed at children

  • 17/11/2017
Warnings of paedophilia on apps marketed at children
Photo credit: Getty

Apps marketed towards young children are prompting warnings of paedophilia.

Cyber safety experts in Australia are warning that children as young as six are being exposed to pornography on apps including Yellow, Spot a Friend, Meet Me and Kik.

Yellow is described as "Tinder for teens" and a "haven for pedophiles", according to a 7 News report.

Users can match with each other by swiping and can enter live video chats.

It has an age restriction of 13, but experts warn that there is nothing to stop adults signing up to use the app.

Cyber safety expert Katie Went told 7 News that she pretended to be a 14-year-old girl and set up an account.

Ms Went said, within a minute, she had four messages and was sent explicit photos.

It takes less than 60 seconds to create a profile.

Earlier this year, Forbes journalists set up fake profiles in a similar experiment on the Kik app.  

They received countless aggressive messages and explicit images from older men.

A concerned parent told 7 News: "There's nothing stopping anyone from going online and pretending to be somebody else, and these kids are too young to deal with that."

Newshub.