Apple: Stop giving kids access to dangerous adult apps
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
A new report has just exposed that Apple lets kids download risky adult apps -- including for casual sex and chatting with strangers -- from their app store. This is as good as giving predators a direct line to kids! Even when a kid’s Apple ID shows they are underage, they can still easily access apps that connect them with random strangers and encourage sending nude pictures.
Personal stories underscore the danger posed to kids by these apps. After confiscating her 14-year-old daughter’s phone, one mom was shocked to find a flood of sexually explicit photos from older men delivered via stranger-chat app Yubo, many pressuring her to reciprocate. Reviews on the App Store detail how many of these apps are filled with people asking for sexually explicit images. They are clearly not for kids.
The time for abdication of responsibility and unaccountable tech practices that hurt our children is over. Apple must take immediate measures to stop children from accessing adult-only apps.
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To:
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Mr. Cook,
According to a new investigation from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), Apple is failing to stop children downloading a vast range of adult-only apps, including apps for casual sex and chatting with random strangers. This is as good as giving predators a direct line to kids.
As is clear from TTP’s report, even when someone’s Apple ID shows they are underrage, they can still easily access adult-only apps. Examples include Anonymous Chat for Two, which is rated 17+ and pairs together random strangers for exchanging messages and images, and which is known for porn bots and requests for nude pictures.
The time for abdication of responsibility and unaccountable tech practices that hurt our children is over. Parents are asking you to take immediate measures to stop children from accessing adult-only apps. At a minimum, this means:
Block anyone whose Apple ID shows they are underage from adult-only apps
Require that adult apps institute substantive age verification processes and close loopholes that allow them to ignore evidence that a user is underage.
Enforce Apple’s own guidelines and remove chat roulette apps from the App Store