JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A popular smartphone app called Musical.ly has become another tool predators are using to contact children, according to warning issued by by the Arkansas attorney general.
The app allows users to create 15- to 60-second videos, adding music and filters to post on the site, and other users can comment on or react to the video.
But the Arkansas Attorney General's Office said there's a dark side of the app, because predators manipulate keywords and hashtags to create secret video groupings of app users, often children, engaging in inappropriate behavior at the encouragement of other users.
Default settings on the app are public, allowing anyone to follow or message other people on Musical.ly.
The app is intended for teens 13 years and older, but it's also popular among grade-school children.
“As adults, it is our job to protect our children,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said. “Aunts, uncles, moms, dads, grandparents and family friends should all educate themselves about the latest apps the children in their lives are using. We must also make every effort to talk with children about the dangers of posting personal information online and the ways that information can be spread across the world -- sometimes into the hands of people who do not have good intentions.”
To protect children, Rutledge recommended the following tips:
- Do not respond to messages that are inappropriate. Encourage children to tell an adult if they ever encounter anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
- Parents and guardians should consider using available parental controls offered at no cost by most providers and/or downloading a monitoring service app that allows them to view the child’s smartphone activity.
- Children should never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online as they may not be who they say they are.
- Follow the “Front Page Rule,” which reminds social media users not to put anything on a social media site they would not want to see on the front page of a newspaper.
- Assume that status updates, photos and videos posted on social networks are permanent. Just because a profile is deleted or information is removed, older versions can continue to exist on other sites.
- Make a unique password for every social media site. Consider making the passwords stronger by adding numbers or special characters. Having strong, unique passwords for each site helps prevent hackers from taking over social media accounts to send spam, scam friends or use information against the owner of the account.
- Musical.ly is a popular app that boasts use by millions of people around the world every day. Users can create 15 to 60 second videos, adding music and filters to post on the site and for others to comment or “like.”
Concerned parents are encouraged to report instances of online exploitation of children, including unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child and misleading words on the internet, to the CyberTipline at http://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline.