Company in Huge Trouble for Creating “Tinder for Kids” App

These days, startups are trying almost everything. Some are eccentric, if harmless, like a company that turns your loved ones’ remains into stones for display. Others fall into the “why did I do it” category — like a startup that sells an AI-powered toilet camera to analyze stool.

A startup called Wizz is clearly the latter, in the darkest sense imaginable. Promoting “age-appropriate sharing” to users as young as 13, Wizz is a French app built on the “swipe left or right” framework typical of dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge.

Given the massive rise in child predation enabled by social media, this is a huge responsibility – and one that Wizz has failed to fulfill. Although it aims to connect children with others their age, it actually becomes a mechanism for predators to meet underage victims.

In Notice Who The hillWizz was involved in a predictably staggering number of incidents of child sexual abuse. Although the app claims to use “sophisticated AI safety algorithms for age verification” in order to classify users by age, real-world examples show that these safeguards are not enough to deter child predators.

In Hawaii, for example, an 11-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by a US Marine told police that they first met at Waze. Despite the app’s “strict policies”, the 19-year-old perpetrator allegedly pretended to be 15, which the AI ​​security algorithm failed to detect.

There are many other examples, such as a 23-year-old pretending to be 14 to sexually assault an actual 14-year-old, or a 27-year-old pretending to be 16 in order to rape multiple underage girls. After receiving reaction from the company The hill It even tested the verification system with a 28-year-old employee, who was able to register an account when he was 16.

The app has come under increasing scrutiny from both the media and consumer watchdogs, which has helped put pressure on platforms like Google Play and Apple’s App Store to remove it entirely. Although these efforts were temporarily successful, Wizz was able to get back to work, promoting new and improved safety measures.

However, Republicans and Democrats in congress are now reaching across the aisle to push for the Children’s Internet Safety Act. If successful, the bill would create a “duty of care” for online platforms to prove themselves to US regulators in order to avoid legal liability for harm, similar to the process automakers are supposed to follow to roll out a new car.

like The hill He astutely notes that technology is the only industry no It broadly adheres to these standards of responsibility in connection with the use of its products.

It remains to be seen whether the bill will reach the finish line, but if it does, it wouldn’t be a moment too soon.

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